INDONESIA: The family receives death threats for demanding an impartial inquiry into the death of Munir

Dear friends,

It has come to the attention of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that the family of Indonesian human rights activist Munir (38), who died of arsenic poisoning aboard a plane flight on 7 September 2004, has been receiving death threats for demanding that an impartial inquiry be held regarding his death.

Munir, a leading human rights activist, was critical of the Indonesian military and the state sponsored human rights abuses both in East Timor and currently in the country, and received frequent death threats. Your urgent action to pressure the Indonesian government to ensure that an in-depth and impartial investigation is held immediately into the causes of Munir’s death and protection is provided to the members of the family of the victim.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
—————————————————————

DETAILED INFORMATION: 

On 20 November 2004, Munir’s wife, Suciwati, received a death threat which was mailed to her house in Bekasi, West Java. A brown box filled with a severed chicken head, legs and intestines came with a typed message saying ‘Do not connect the TNI to Munir’s death. Want to end up like this!’  TNI is the acronym for the Indonesian Military, which Munir was critical of. Suciwati immediately reported the death threat to the police but they arrived at her house only four hours later.  

The threat came as Munir’s family and human rights groups demanded a thorough investigation into Munir’s suspicious death on a Garuda flight en route to Amsterdam on 7 September 2004. The Netherlands Forensic Institute said an autopsy performed on Munir found he died from excessive levels of arsenic in his body. 

The Dutch Government handed a copy of the forensic report to Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry on 11 November 2004. The report stated that most of the arsenic had been found in Munir’s stomach. The concentration and location of the heavy metal indicated that it had been slipped into the food or drink he had consumed. However, as of November 20, Munir’s family had not yet received a copy of the autopsy.  The Indonesian government said that the faxed, unofficial translation could not yet be released publicly. At a press conference on November 12, Suciwati argued that diplomatic etiquette should not deny her right to the information about her husband.  

According to Suciwati, she and her late husband used to receiving threats. “When my husband was still alive, we used to live with terror. We never told the public about it because we didn’t want to give the threats importance,” Suciwati said. It is also reported that two days after Munir’s death, his family in Malang, East Java, had also received a disturbing letter: the message ‘congratulated’ the family for Munir’s death as the writer branded Munir a traitor and wished that the spirits of the country’s heroes would pardon him. However, Suciwati and other human rights activists said they would not be intimidated into silencing their calls for justice.

These threats suggest that Munir’s death was politically motivated. However, it is essential for the police and other authorities to conduct a detailed and impartial investigation into Munir’s death and the threats received by his family, rather than give in to speculations. The perpetrators must be prosecuted and punished accordingly, and protection should be given to Munir’s family. 

BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF MUNIR: 

Munir is Indonesia’s best known human rights lawyer. Early in 1998 he established the Commission for Disappeared Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), a group that exposed the abduction by the military of several human rights activists in Jakarta. Kontras probably did more than any other single group to unmask military impunity at that time. Since then Kontras has fought consistently for human rights victims in many parts of Indonesia. 

Munir’s legal aid career began in Surabaya in 1989 and included stints as director of the Semarang Legal Aid office and as chief of field operations for the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) in Jakarta. He represented many human rights victims and activists in high profile cases, and regularly spoke out for justice in the face of intimidation, which included death threats. His work encompassed the full range of human rights concerns in Indonesia, from abuses by the Indonesian military and police, to attacks on labor activists, to impunity for human rights crimes in Aceh, East Timor and Papua (Irian Jaya), to the rights of the Chinese ethnic minority.  In December 1998 he was awarded the prestigious Yap Thiam Hien human rights prize in Jakarta. Asiaweek named him one of ‘twenty young Asian leaders for the new millenium’ in 2000. He is also one of the winners of the Right Livelihood Award in 2000. 

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter, fax or email to the governmental authorities listed below and demanding that they provide immediate protection to Munir’s family and expedite an impartial investigation into Munir’s death and death threats made to the family.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER