Human Rights News

On 27 September 2022, dozens of people in Sibanggor Julu Village, Puncak Sorik Marapi District, Mandailing Natal Regency (Madina), North Sumatra Province, were again poisoned with Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) gas due to the activities of the company PT Sorik Marapi Geothermal Power (PT SMGP). The Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM) reported that up to 28 September 2022, 87 victims were hospitalised. This is the second mass poisoning in a month and the sixth incident since 2021. Since 2021, at least 214 people have been poisoned, and five have died consequently. 

Five Minangkabau indigenous farmers in Nagari Aia Gadang (Aia Gadang Village), Pasaman District, West Pasaman Regency, West Sumatra Province, were sentenced to prison by the West Pasaman District Court on 19 September 2022. The court found them guilty of mistreating employees of the oil palm plantation company PT Anam Koto, as referred to in Article 351 paragraph (1) in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) 1 of the Criminal Code. The court sentenced Ms Wisnawati, 32, to one month and 15 days. The other four, Mr Idamri, 39, Mr Safridin, 41, Mr Rudi, 31, and Mr Jasman, 45, were sentenced to two months and 15 days in prison.

On 23 July 2022, two police officers, Bripka SR and Bripka WL shot a man named Raymond Londok (RL) dead in Pandu Village, Bunaken District, Manado City. The police answered the call of a community resident concerned by a drunk man holding a dagger/ white object and screaming. The resident expected the police to calm down the drunken man, but allegedly the officers used excessive force and killed the victim. The police stated it was self-defence and tried to dissuade the family from reporting the victim’s death. On 18 August 2022, the North Sulawesi Regional Police held a press conference led by the Head of Public Relations of the North Sulawesi Police, Kombes Pol. Jules Abraham Abast.

A 42-year-old woman named Sumiarti Masry was arrested by the Sikka Polres on 1 September 2022 in Wuring, Wolomarang Village, Alok District, Sikka Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province. She was arrested for saying through her Facebook account that “traffic police (Polantas) is like ‘Ferdy Sambo”. The Sambo case is a high-profile story that has caught the public’s attention across Indonesia since July 2022. Sumiarti’s case began with her comments on Ryna Nhozee’s Facebook account status: “Ngerii ew polisi tilang sampai masuk di Wuring” (It was terrible, the traffic police inspect in Wuring). At that time, the Traffic Police Unit of the Sikka Police was conducting a vehicle inspection in the Wuring T-junction area.

On 20 September 2022, four members of the North Halmahera Polres in North Maluku Province in Indonesia tortured an activist and student at the University of Halmahera, Yulius Atu (also called Ongen) for criticising how the police handled the demonstration against the rise in fuel prices that took place earlier a day before. Police dragged, kicked, beat, and forced the victim to apologise to police sniffer dogs. During the protest, Yulius took photos of police officers using sniffer dogs to keep the protest under control. After the rally, the victim uploaded a photo with a WhatsApp status that said, ‘unable to use hands, use sniffer dogs’ (tidak mampu pake tangan, pake anjing pelacak).

It has been more than two years since the extrajudicial killing of a 22-year-old man named Exel Djunaidi (ED) by the police in North Sulawesi. The legal process against the perpetrator has not been carried out. ED died after being arrested by members of the Directorate of Drug Detection (Ditresnarkoba) of the North Sulawesi Regional Police on 13 September 2020 at his house in Lolah Satu Village, East Tombariri District, Minahasa. The family found ED dead with several gunshot wounds on his body, including one in the back of the head. The case was reported to the police on 14 September 2020. However, the police stopped the preliminary investigation of this case four months after the incident in January 2021.

On 1 October 2022, the chaos that ended in tragedy took over the stadium after a football competition between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya at Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang, East Java. As a result of the incident, as of 5 October 2022, 131 people were reported dead and hundreds injured. Thirty-four people died inside the stadium; the remaining victims died in the hospital. This has been, so far, the darkest football tragedy in the history of Indonesian football. The police response to the crowd unrest has raised questions about this tragedy’s human rights violations.

On 23 August 2022 the Head of Ternate District Prosecutor’s Office (Kajari), Abdullah Fatah, demanded that Maharani Carolina, a female lawyer in Ternate, apologise publicly for her posts on her Facebook account, Namaku Ranigila (my name is crazy Rany). The posts criticised the handling of the drug case involving Stephanus Peter Imanuel (Steven) by the Ternate District Prosecutor’s office and the North Maluku High Prosecutor.