Jakarta – Indonesian humanitarian workers Tuesday spoke of terror and pressure against them to stop their efforts in investigating violence during the May riots. "Terror against humanitarian workers have become rampant since the May riots," Ita Nadia from the Volunteers of Humanity told reporters at a joint press conference here with several human rights groups.

Nadia said pro-democracy organizations have since been subjected to various forms of terror and harrassment, ranging from phone calls and kidnap threats to receiving a grenade in the mail. "Workers in our division on violence against women have received obscene phone calls, insults and repeated threats that their daughters will be raped," Nadia said.

Volunteers for Humanity was the first rights group to claim that mass rapes occured during riots here and other cities in May, which claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people. The group, led by Catholic priest Sandyawan Sumardi, also claimed that 168 rapes occured and that 20 of the rape victims, women and young girls, died from their wounds, murdered by their assailants or committed suicide.

"One month ago our open house for the homeless was attacked and the street kids there were beaten by the mobs," Sandyawan said. "The terror is part of the process of regimentation that has turned into state violence."

"The indication is clear that the terror is related to those behind the May riots," Sandyawan said. Nadia said that a grenade had also been sent through the mail to Sandyawan's office in June. The government has since set a team to investigate violence during the May riot.

The team, set up on June 23, comprises representatives from non-governmental organisations, including Sadyawan, officials, the military, the police and the attorney general's office. It is due to announce the result of its three month investigation on October 23. Meanwhile Munir, lawyer from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, said statements from government officials saying no evidence of rape exists and that the Volunteers of Humanity should be the one investigated, are part of "the efforts to hide a very big political scandal."