Human Rights Issues of the Week: Killings of Terrorist Suspects

Human rights issue of this week is last week's killings of 4 terrorist suspects in Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia, on Saturday, 5 January 2013. The suspects were killed by the Indonesian Special anti-Terrorist Squad, Densus 88. According to the police, the squad had to shoot to kill in order to protect themselves against possible suicide bombers. Several suspects were wearing vests, who later on were confirmed wired with bombs.

The shootings sparked a debate regarding the conduct of Densus 88. Critics accused them to be 'trigger happy' and did not really try to capture the terrorists alive to be brought to trial. The day before, on Friday 4 January 2013, the squad carried out an operation in Sulawesi, where they also killed two terrorist suspects and captured the other four.

The police seems to have a legitimate basis of action. Their lives were threaten by the possibility of suicidal attacks from the suspects. On the other hand, the number of killings are very high. The total suspects of both operations in Nusa Tenggara Barat and Sulawesi are 11 people, however, the police only managed to captured 5 people alive, while the other 6 were killed. This begs the question: how hard the police tried to convince the suspects to surrender alive.

On this issue I really cannot take any position yet, unless I can get more information later on. Right now, I can see that the squad has a legitimate reason to shoot. However, I do feel that some kind of assessment and evaluation on how Densus 88 operate should be carried out. Densus 88 should be placed under public scrutiny and cannot be allowed to move outside and beyond the law. There has to be an accountability mechanism that the public can see. Only then we can be sure that the unit's actions are legitimate and are necessary for public safety and security.

Links (all Indonesian. Sorry, I couldn't find any news on this in English):
http://www.beritasatu.com/nasional/90702-jat-mengutuk-penembakan-7-terduga-teroris-oleh-densus.html
http://www.tempo.co/read/news/2013/01/05/058452279