Jakarta – The US' latest report on human rights practices has listed the Indonesian police's alleged unlawful torture of suspects in the Jakarta International School (JIS) sexual assault case as a form of cruelty carried out by law enforcers.

The report noted that the Jakarta Police general crimes unit had allegedly tortured the suspects for hours during questioning to elicit confessions.

The officers allegedly covered the suspects' eyes with duct tape, beat them with fists and metal chairs and burned them with cigarettes. One of the suspects, Azwar, reportedly died during police questioning, yet the officers claimed that his death was a suicide.

The case, which broke out in April 2014, started when a mother of a victim held a press conference claiming that her son had been molested in the prestigious school. A few days later, the Jakarta Police arrested six outsourced cleaners as suspects in the case.

Overall, for this kind of abuse, the report concluded that the Indonesian government had failed to conduct transparent public investigations into some allegations of unjustified killing, torture and abuse by security forces.

The report also noted that generally, officers who were found to be using torture were rarely tried, even though the law criminalizes the use of violence or force by officials to elicit confessions.

The trial for the JIS case ended in April. The South Jakarta District Court sentenced Canadian teacher Neil Bantleman and Indonesian Ferdinant Tjiong each to 10 years' imprisonment for repeated sexual abuse toward three students between January 2013 and March 2014, despite outcry of irregularities in the investigative process and a lack of evidence. (fsu/ika)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/06/27/us-report-highlights-police-abuse-jis-case.html