VZCZCXRO5116
PP RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #3248/01 3300925
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 260925Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7169
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1632
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 1462
RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 3571
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1175
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 2062
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH 0469
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHHJJPI/USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 003248 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, DRL/PHD, INR/EAP 
NSC FOR EPHU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM ID UN
SUBJECT: U.N. EXPRESSES CONCERNS ABOUT INDONESIA'S JAILS 
 
REF: JAKARTA 2698 
 
JAKARTA 00003248  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified -- Please 
handle accordingly. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture 
briefed diplomats--including Dep Pol/C--November 23 on his 
recent visit to Indonesia.  He said he found evidence of 
torture of some detainees by police at a number of holding 
cell-type jails.  The alleged beatings, etc., were not 
connected to politics:  treatment of detainees in the 
politically sensitive area of Papua was considered positive, 
for example.  There was no evidence of torture by the 
military.  In the final report to be issued by the UN, the 
Special Rapporteur likely will point to specific steps meant 
to address the problem.  The GOI provided full access for the 
visit and we believe it will move quickly to try to make 
improvements in this area.  END SUMMARY. 
 
GIVEN FULL ACCESS 
 
¶3.  (U) Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, was 
given full access to Indonesian jails, prisons and other 
detention facilities during his November 9-24 visit. 
Briefing diplomats at the end of his visit on November 23, 
Nowak commended the GOI for inviting him and for the progress 
Indonesia has made in protecting human rights since 
democracy. 
ALLEGATION:  TORTURE IN SOME JAILS 
 
¶4.  (U) Nowak alleged he had evidence of "systematic" torture 
in many jails he visited in Java.  He depicted a system in 
which torture prevailed during the time of initial detention 
in a crude attempt to coerce confessions. He noted that 
torture is not systematic throughout Indonesia but rather 
only in certain jails.  Over half the detainees in the worst 
facilities he visited--jails in Yogyakarta, Central Java and 
Jakarta--were tortured, based on observations and interviews. 
 On several occasions, Nowak walked in on interrogations at 
which the suspect apparently was in the process of being 
beaten, he alleged, and in one of those cases the local head 
of the Internal Investigations Unit (CID) was the 
interrogator.  Typically, torture could be traced up the 
chain of local command to the head of CID and other senior 
officers at police stations, he said. 
 
ALLEGATION:  CONFESSIONS COERCED 
 
¶5.   (U) Nowak alleged that torture typically occurs soon 
after detention in the pre-trial stage.  Detainees are kept 
for months without access to a lawyer or the courts, 
increasing their vulnerability.  Noting that safeguards at 
the pre-trial stage are virtually non-existent, Nowak 
documented beatings by fists, sticks, cable, iron bars and 
hammers.  In some cases, detainees were shot in the legs at 
close range, electrocuted, burned, and heavy objects were 
placed on their feet.  Linking torture to rampant corruption, 
Nowak said all torture victims were those too poor to pay 
bribes while wealthier detainees typically could buy their 
way out of abuse and long detentions.  Detainees alleged 
corruption throughout the system. 
 
CONCERNS ABOUT CHILDREN 
 
¶6. (U) The situation for children was just as bad or worse, 
Nowak claimed.  He talked to children as young as 10 years 
old who were subjected to severe physical abuse by both 
police and other inmates, Nowak said.  Children also are 
mixed in with the general population in both jails and 
prisons which leads to further abuse for vulnerable young 
detainees.  (Note:  The minimum age of criminal 
responsibility in Indonesia is eight years old.) 
 
THE POSITIVES 
 
¶7. (U) The situation, however, at locations he visited 
outside Java was much better, including:  Makassar; South 
Sulawesi; Bali; and Papua.  Not only did his team find fewer 
infractions, but also more willingness to address them.  At a 
 
JAKARTA 00003248  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
jail in the Papuan Wamena highlands--an inaccessible area 
where rumors of separatist sentiment is rife--authorities put 
four police officers on disciplinary suspension when Nowak 
presented evidence that they had tortured detainees. 
Prisoners being held for political reasons, such as raising 
the Papuan independence flag, had not been tortured, and in 
fact were allowed to mix with other prisoners in a better 
part of the prison, he said.  Officials running the Wamena 
jail and other places where treatment was more humane all 
appeared to be well educated on human rights, Nowak said, an 
indication that awareness was a factor in preventing torture. 
 
 
¶8. (U) Prisons and pre-trial detention centers Nowak visited 
also had few instances of torture, and he found no indication 
of torture at military detention centers, which do not hold 
any civilians. 
 
NEXT STEPS 
 
¶9.  (U) Nowak said his preliminary report will be drafted in 
the next few days and presented to the GOI, which will have 
six weeks to comment.  Its comments will be incorporated into 
the final report to be presented to the UN Human Rights 
Council in March.  Nowak, an Austrian human rights lawyer, is 
making twelve recommendations in his preliminary report. 
Condemnation of torture at the highest official levels tops 
the list.  Second, stiff criminal penalties of several years 
in prison should be applied to perpetrators.  The GOI is in 
the process of revising the criminal code to include torture, 
officials assured Nowak.  Third, he recommends an independent 
system to monitor detention centers with unannounced visits 
and an independent criminal investigation mechanism.  Other 
recommendations include:  time limits for police custody to 
48 hours; better safeguards such as habeas corpus; 
independent autopsies following each death in detention; 
separation of minors and adults; prohibition of corporal 
punishment; and mechanisms to enforce prohibitions of 
violence against women. 
 
REFORMS NEEDED 
 
¶10. (SBU) Nowak seemed fair-minded and he stressed that the 
problem of detainee torture must be seen in the context of 
the dramatically positive improvements in Indonesia's human 
rights situation in the new democratic era.  As noted, the 
GOI provided full access for the visit and we believe it will 
move quickly to try to make improvements in this area.  The 
government has demonstrated a willingness to vigorously 
pursue reforms in other areas of human rights so this visit 
should help senior policymakers address this issue. 
Indonesia will need to institute multi-faceted reforms that 
address the entire legal justice system in order to address 
UN concerns, which will take time. 
 
HUME