A. Muh. Ibnu Aqil, Jakarta – The Islam Defenders Front (FPI) has recovered the bodies of six members who were recently killed during an alleged shootout with police, and returned the bodies to their families for burial. The group denies the police version of events and provided details that could point to ill intent among law enforcement.
FPI chairman Ahmad Shabri Lubis said in a statement on Thursday that the group recovered the bodies from the National Police Hospital in East Jakarta with the help of several people, including M. Romo Syafe', Gerindra Party politician Fadli Zon and representatives from the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).
The six men were buried at 8 a.m. on Wednesday on the grounds of an Islamic boarding school in Mega Mendung, Bogor regency, West Java.
Ahmad also said in the statement that the bodies of the six men each had more than one gunshot wound, and that the pattern of the wounds suggested the shots had been aimed at the heart.
Citing unnamed "experts" who were present at the bathing ceremony for the six slain FPI members, Ahmad said the men had been shot at close range, some from the front and some from the back, and that most of the bodies bore signs of torture.
"We are asking for prayers and support from all layers of society, so that truth and justice can be served in Indonesia. Especially because this extrajudicial killing occurred so close to Human Rights Day on Dec. 10," he said in the statement.
The police have yet to disclose the autopsy results for the six FPI members.
The police and the FPI have widely differing accounts of the fatal incident that took place in the early hours of Monday at kilometer marker 50 on the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road, which reportedly involved several police officers and the bodyguards of FPI leader Rizieq Shihab who were traveling in a convoy of vehicles on the toll road.
The discrepancies between the two accounts have prompted calls for a thorough, transparent and impartial investigation into what actually happened.
According to the police, the officers were following Rizieq as part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged health protocol violations that occurred last month, during FPI events and gatherings held to mark the controversial cleric's return to Indonesia on Nov. 10.
Rizieq has repeatedly shirked police summonses for questioning in the investigation.
Immediately following the fatal incident, Komnas HAM formed a fact-finding team, while the House of Representatives planned to host a session with the families of the deceased on Thursday.
The FPI has called for Komnas HAM to recruit ad hoc, independent and professional commissioners from civil society groups as part of its fact-finding team.
In Thursday's statement, Ahmad also called on the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA) and the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) to investigate the fatal shooting of its members. He claimed the convoy that was targeted also carried women and children.
The police called a televised press conference on Monday, hours after it had shot dead six FPI members earlier that day.
Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Fadil Imran said at the press conference that the officers had been following the FPI convoy after receiving a tip the night before that the group was allegedly planning to help Rizieq evade police questioning, which had been scheduled for 10 a.m. on Monday.
He said that the police shot dead Rizieq's bodyguards out of self-defense, when the bodyguards attacked the officers using firearms and bladed weapons.