NGO Activists` Arrest to be Reported to Human Rights Commission

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) will report to the Human Rights National Commission (Komnas HAM) about the arrest of 18 NGO activists from the Agrarian Reform Movement (AGRA) by the Jakarta police.

"I will soon report it to Komnas HAM and probably also to the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) as well as other related institutions," Wahyu Nandang Hernawan of YLBHI stated during a press conference here, Tuesday.

The arrest violated the existing law, he pointed out.

Secretary General of AGRA Mohamad Ali noted that the arrest took place on Monday, at 3:30 p.m. local time, when 26 AGRA activists from 17 provinces were on their way to the US embassy for holding a rally.

The 18 activists were taken to the Jakarta Police Headquarters by a truck. After being grilled by the police officers, they were released at 9 p.m. local time.

The police asked them to sign a statement promising that they would not hold a rally again, but they refused to sign it.

Ali said they had intended to stage a rally in front of the US embassy since they considered that the ongoing Asian-African Conference 2015 deviated from the spirit of the first Asian-African Conference held in 1955 in Bandung that advocated anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism.

AGRA rejected any intervention by the United States in the Asian-African Conference being held in Jakarta from April 19 to 23, 2015.

"Foreign investment will pose a threat to the farmers land," he pointed out.(WDY)