Jakarta – A five-year jail term given to a prominent activist in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh was harsh and heightens the "apparent intimidation" of those trying to monitor rights abuses in the province, the US government said.
Muhammad Nazar was sentenced on Tuesday for spreading hatred against the state over speeches he made early this year. It was a sign that the government will brook little dissent as it tries to crush rebels in a military offensive launched on May 19.
US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Wednesday that Washington was deeply concerned over the verdict, which he called the latest passed on Indonesians expressing anti-government views. Several protesters have received short jail terms elsewhere in Indonesia recently for insulting the president and her deputy.
The military reignited the decades-long Aceh war after peace talks with rebels collapsed. Some 350 people have been killed and nearly 50,000 fled their homes to escape fighting since then.
Indonesia's armed forces chief asserted on Wednesday that the military had full control of Aceh, the official Antara news agency said. However, he said this did not mean operations would end before the six-month target deadline or that security in Indonesia's northernmost province could be guaranteed.
In a statement, Boucher said: "We regret that the Banda Aceh court handed down such a harsh sentence against Mr Nazar for exercising his right to peaceful political activity. This is the latest in a series of convictions and prison sentences for peaceful expression of anti-government views in Indonesia, and contributes to the apparent intimidation of independent observers who would be in a position to monitor and report on gross human rights abuses in Aceh."
The court in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, found Nazar, 30, guilty of spreading hatred toward the government by calling for a referendum on self-rule. He had been sentenced to 10 months in jail in 2001 for treason for campaigning for a referendum to decide whether Aceh should stay within Indonesia or split.
Other rights activists have said they had been warned by the authorities about speaking out during the offensive against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). The government has also placed tight restrictions on foreign media reporting the conflict.
On Thursday, the military said it had killed 325 rebels and lost 32 soldiers and police since May 19, while the number of refugees was 48,000, up from previous estimates of more than 40,000. GAM has said hundreds of government troops and scores of civilians had been killed.
Government troops have been fighting GAM since 1976 in a conflict that has killed 10,000 people, mostly civilians.