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Supreme Court wants "Guantanamo" article scrapped from terrorism bill
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The fight against terrorism – The National Police’s Densus 88 counterterrorism squad "immobilizes" suspected terrorists in a simulation exercise at the East Java Police headquarters in Surabaya, East Java. (JP/Wahyoe Boediwardhana)
T
he Supreme Court has requested the House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs to scrap the so-called Guantanamo article from the draft revision of the 2003 Terrorism Law since it would compromise the fairness of the justice system.
Article 43A, which lawmakers and rights activists have called the "Guantanamo" article, would allow investigators and prosecutors to detain alleged terrorists, terrorist suspects, defendants and former terrorists, along with their families, in rehabilitation centers for six months without charge as a preventive measure.
The authoritarian article, should the bill be passed, would violate the principles of law in a democratic country, Supreme Court justic Salman Luthan said on Thursday.
"It violates human rights principles. If we are referring to [the fight against] international terrorism that says national security is above human rights, we have to criticize it. Moreover, our country is not in the middle of [a war against] terrorism," Salman said in a hearing with Commission III.
He also noted that terrorist suspects should be detained a maximum of 180 days as stipulated in the current law, rather than the 510 days after arrest as stipulated in the bill.
Meanwhile, the deputy chairman of the House's special committee for the law's amendment, Hanafi Rais of the National Mandate Party (PAN), agreed with Salman's suggestion, saying that the detention period should be the one stipulated in the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP).
"I also agree with the Supreme Court that the 'Guantanamo' article should be omitted," Hanafi told journalists after the hearing. (rin)
