Elite Indonesian police unit under fire over torture, unlawful killings
Tactics of police anti-terror group in Indonesia questioned amid claims of torture and unlawful killing that critics say provoke revenge attacks
An elite police unit on the front line of Indonesia's lauded terrorism crackdown is raising concerns that it is instead fuelling the jihadist cause, as it faces allegations of torture and unlawful killings.
Detachment 88 was established after the 2002 bombings on Bali that killed 202 people, including 11 Hong Kong residents. It gained strong public support after claiming the scalps of some of the region's most-wanted extremists.
But last month a six-year-old video emerged in which officers from the anti-terror unit interrogated a suspect writhing in pain after he had been shot in the chest and forced to strip to his underwear. "Why did you shoot me? I surrendered," he screams, as police repeatedly yell back that he ask Allah for forgiveness. "You're going to die," they say, trampling on three other suspects, shooting into the ground to intimidate them.
The suspect who was shot in the video, Rahman Kalahe, survived the incident and was sentenced to 19 years' jail over his role in the beheading of three Christian schoolgirls and the murder of a priest in Poso, central Sulawesi.
However, the footage prompted the National Human Rights Commission to reopen its investigation into the 2007 raid, while Islamic groups and politicians have made calls to disband Detachment 88.