Papua torture inaction 'embarrassing' for PM

ndonesian police say they will investigate new allegations that political activists have been tortured by members of a US and Australian-backed anti-terrorism unit. The Detachment 88 counter-terrorism squad allegedly tortured 12 suspected separatists arrested last month for possessing an outlawed South Maluku Republic (RMS) flag. The allegations came as another Maluku separatist, Yusuf Sipakoly, died in custody on Monday from injuries his family say were sustained during torture. Sipakoly was arrested in 2007 for unfurling the outlawed flag and performing a traditional war dance in front of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Police in Ambon, the capital of Maluku province, denied his death was the result of kidney failure stemming from torture and dismissed allegations he had been denied medical treatment for years. But police spokesman Marwoto Soeto said allegations against Detachment 88 officers relating to the suspects arrested between August 1 and 7 would be the subject of a "thorough investigation". "If the allegations are true, the officers could face charges. Torture is a criminal act which carries a maximum penalty of nine years in jail," he said. The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Monday that members of Detachment 88 had beaten the detainees for up to a week, brought them close to suffocation with plastic bags, stabbed them with nails and forced them to eat raw chillies. Detachment 88 receives millions of dollars in funding and support from Australia and the US, which helped establish the unit in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the 2002 Bali bombing. A spokesman from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs said the allegations were concerning and embassy officials had made inquiries with the Indonesian police, including during a recent visit to Ambon. Indonesia is a signatory to the UN Convention Against Torture but it has no corresponding law against the practice, which is widespread throughout the country's prisons and police forces. The UN special rapporteur for torture visited Indonesia in 2007 and found police used torture as a "routine practice in Jakarta and other metropolitan areas of Java", the most populated island in the archipelago.