Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) criticized the House of Representatives for producing legislation that served the interests of capital owners more

Jakarta - Human rights violations perpetrated in 2003 cannot be separated from military control, particularly the army.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – The minister known as the strongman in East Timor's Government wept like a child as he confessed publicly to beating a prisoner during the 1975 civil war.

Jakarta – Indonesia has described as baseless a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report alleging gross abuses by troops fighting separatist rebels in Aceh province.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives passed on Thursday the long-awaited state treasury bill into law, which Minister of Finance Boediono claimed will greatly improve the management o

Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) has removed one major hurdle to judicial independence by placing all courts under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court, but a noted l

Urip Hudiono and Nani Farida, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – Indonesia risks losing its international credibility if it fails to stop abuses by the military against civilians in Aceh and ensure t

As East Timor continues to delve into its painful past, there's been a suprising confession from Timor's last European governor.

Jakarta – House Commission IV for settlement and telecommunications failed on Wednesday to endorse the controversial water resource bill, ordering the Ministry of Settlement and Infrast

Dan Eaton, Jakarta – Indonesia's military is waging an extensive campaign of extra-judicial killings, kidnapping and torture in Aceh province, mostly targeting young men and forcing tho

The Indonesian military in Aceh is pursuing a campaign of killings, "disappearances" and beatings of civilians, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Despite a declining trend among most recorded crimes in the city, the number of rape cases has significantly soared – by 25 percent – this year.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Two witnesses for the adhoc human rights trial of Col.

Tiarma Siboro and Nani Farida, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – Amid mounting criticism over restrictions on the press and independent groups in the war-torn province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, t

Rob Taylor – An East Timorese human rights crimes court today sentenced a former member of Indonesia's military to 11 years in jail for murder and torture committed during the wave of v

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – In the hope that the seasonal spirit will prevail, East Timor's Truth and Reconciliation Commission is asking former political leaders to seek forgiveness for trig

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Chief Justice Bagir Manan said on Monday the country's failure to speed up reform within the judiciary was the result of conflicting laws and regulations.

Since gaining independence in 2002, the people of East Timor have struggled with the legacy of violence of Indonesia's 24-year occupation.

Nani Farida and Teuku Agam Muzakir, Banda Aceh/Lhokseumawe – Pressure on the press in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam has claimed another victim after the Indonesian Military (TNI) allegedly f

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – A coalition of 96 non-governmental organizations called on the government on Wednesday to promptly ratify all international conventio

David Usborne, New York – Sitting in the Deluxe Cafe on Broadway just south of Columbia University on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, John Rumbiak is far from his native land.

An East Timor court has jailed a former Indonesian army sergeant for crimes against humanity during the territory's bloody breakaway from Jakarta.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Military soldiers deployed to quell the demonstration in Tanjung Priok in 1984 opened fire at the crowd without prior warning shots, a witness told the human rig

Larry Johnson – Indonesia is facing criticism at home and abroad over recent developments involving two men linked to human rights abuses in the former Indonesian province of East Timor

Dili – A Timorese militiaman was convicted Wednesday of crimes against humanity and sentenced to nine years in jail for killing three independence supporters and torturing others during

Jakarta – A plenary meeting of the House of Representatives endorsed on Thursday 13 bills on the creation of 24 new regencies in 13 provinces into law.

Jakarta – The Army's special forces (Kopassus) chief must stand trial for crimes against humanity over a massacre which took place almost 20 years ago, the country's human rights court

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Experts have expressed concern that a planned Truth and Reconciliation Commission will serve as a legal whitewash of past gross human rights abuses, allowing p

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said on Friday that based on preliminary findings the Indonesian military (TNI) committed gross abu

Dili – Thousands of people gathered Wednesday to remember the victims of one of East Timor's worst massacres under Indonesian rule with a moment of silence and flowers as well as demand

Jakarta – Two witnesses of the bloody 1984 Tanjung Priok incident withdrew on Tuesday their written and signed statements in the dossier against defendant Maj. Gen. (ret) Pranowo.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Irked by allegations of involvement in numerous human rights abuses, spokesmen from the Indonesian Military (TNI) expressed on Tuesday their opposition to a tr

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Samani, a man in his late 40s, works as a night guard at the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta).

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court on Tuesday held its first session to hear lawyers of groups of people seeking a legal review of three laws: On electricity, on oil and

Jakarta – The Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) Commander Maj. Gen.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Around 20 victims of the 1984 Tanjung Priok violence and their families asked the police to protect them from people they said were Army's Special Forces (Kopa

In Indonesia, for the first time, military officers are being tried for human rights abuses during the regime of former President Suharto.

Shawn Donnan – A.M. Fatwa, the deputy speaker ofIndonesia's parliament, has cause to be angry.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Papua Hundreds of students and local Papuans staged a protest on Friday in Jayapura, to reject a plan by the General Elections Commission (KPU) to establi

Dili – An East Timorese court Thursday convicted and sentenced two former pro-Jakarta militiaman for murdering three independence supporters during the country's break from Indonesia in

Sian Powell, Jakarta – The chief of Indonesia's special forces will make history tomorrow when his trial begins in Jakarta's central court.

Jakarta - The involvement of the Armed Forces Intelligence Body (Badan Intelijen ABRI, BIA) and ABRI's Social and Political Unit (Sospol ABRI) in the takeover of the Indonesian Democrat

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara said on Tuesday that reconciliation would not stop the legal proce

Police have broken up a training session by Indonesia's official human rights commission in Aceh province, where the military is in its sixth month of a major offensive against separati

Shawn Donnan, Jakarta – An international human rights watchdog on Wednesday identified at least six senior Indonesian military figures with histories of "gross" human rights violations

An international rights group called for Indonesia to ban officers accused of past abuses from involvement with the war against separatist rebels in Aceh province.

Alan Sipress, Dili – Joni Marques is in jail for his role in the ambush and murder of three Catholic priests, two nuns and their traveling companions in 1999, one of the most infamous i

The greatest obstacle to upholding the law in Indonesia is located in the capacity and resoluteness of law enforcement agencies in the enforcement of legislation, rather than the need t

Jakarta – A former pro-Indonesia militia member in East Timor has been jailed for 10 B1/2 years for crimes against humanity including one count of murder, East Timor's serious crimes un

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Observers have warned the public not to be overly optimistic about the newly established Constitutional Commission, saying that the final say was still in the