Indonesian authorities are reported to have moved hundreds of inmates from a jail in East Java, to other prisons in the region after rioting prisoners set part of the jail on fire.

The Indonesian daily, Kompas, said inmates of the high-security Medaeng prison in Sidoarjo, south of Surabaya, rioted on Wednesday, setting fire to the prison's office and breaking down walls.

Intervention by police and troops prevented any of them from escaping.

The director general of prisons, Thahir Abdullah, said the jail's security system was defective and the 575 inmates had been transferred to three other jails. Kompas said there were indications that the unrest was started as part of an effort by some inmates to escape.

[Peoples Democratic Party members Dita Indah Sari, Husein Pontoh and Moh. Sholeh were among those interned at the Medaeng prison. Although the authorities have been reported as saying that they are still investigating the riot (searching for the "intellectual actors"), two reports in Pos Kota and Media Indonesia on June 12 implied that they might be responsible by saying that since the three have been interned at the prison, there have been three incidents of rioting - James Balowski]