Heru Andriyanto – Lawyers and Muslim groups went to the National Commission for Human Rights on Wednesday to lodge complaints about abuses in the police's antiterror drive and demand action to stop the killing and torture of suspected terrorists as well as fabrication of cases, a practice they believe has been utilized for the last seven years.

"We went to the commission to report many irregularities in the police's handling of terrorism cases, including the arbitrary killings and torture of terror suspects," said lawyer Guntur Fatahillah, who represents the Muslim Defenders Team (TPM).

He pointed to the investigation results of the 2003 JW Marriott Hotel bombing, in which police claimed they had found the severed head of suicide bomber Asmar Latin Sani on the fifth floor of the building.

But a finding by TPM suggested that the roof of the Toyota Kijang van used in the suicide bombing remained intact, making it impossible for the head to reach the fifth floor, Guntur told the Jakarta Globe in a telephone interview.

In another police operation several weeks after the July 17, 2009, twin bombings at the Marriott and the nearby Ritz-Carlton Hotel, police claimed to have killed terror suspect Air Setiawan when he was delivering explosives to a home in Jati Asih, Bekasi, at midnight, but Air's son said his father was still at home in Solo at 3:00 p.m. Bekasi and Solo are separated by some 550 kilometers.

A police probe into the September 2004 car bombing at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta found that the explosive materials were supplied from a chemical shop in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta. But Guntur said the shop had been closed down earlier by police following the terrorist attack on a shopping mall in Senen, Central Jakarta.

"Police antiterror operations have gone beyond control and worst of all, in many cases they prefer to kill the suspects," Guntur said.

Also joining the group was Abu Jibriel, the father of Muhammad Jibriel, who is currently on trial as the alleged financier of the twin hotel bombings. The elder Jibriel had earlier accused police of torturing his son but his motion to halt the trial based on claims of human rights abuses was rejected.

"The evil by Densus 88 [the elite police antiterror unit] has no limit but no action has ever been taken against it," he was quoted as saying by the Web site arrahmah.com, which was operated by his son.

In the South Jakarta District Court, a lawyer for female terror suspect Putri Munawaroh also raised concerns about abuses during antiterror operations.

Putri was pregnant when her rented home was raided by police, resulting in the deaths of mastermind Noordin M Top, her husband and several other suspected militants. The demand to release her from detention was rejected and she gave a birth to a boy at the police hospital and has since been keeping the baby with her inside the cell, lawyer Achmad Michdan said.

"Terrorism is the problem of the nation, so the handling of it must be transparent, accountable and based on the presumption of innocence," Michdan said.

"Apart from the torture and intimidations, terror suspects are often denied access to their family and lawyers. Police provided the lawyers for them without first asking approval from the suspects. This is against the law that grants the suspects' rights to pick their own lawyers."