The Indonesian army has utilized extreme brutality in Aceh in the past, but seem to be (overall) fighting smart and fair this time around. Of course this won't stop the hard-left and radical muslims from insisting that Megawati must sit down around the campfire and sing Kumbayah with the islamist seperatists of the GAM.
20 killed in Aceh as prominent rebel jailed
JAKARTA: Twenty people, including 16 separatist rebels, have been killed in Indonesia’s war-hit Aceh province as a top guerrilla was jailed for 17 years on treason charges, the military and reports said on Sunday.
A court in northern Aceh town of Lhokseumawe also found Mustafa bin Ibrahim, 30, a deputy commander in the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), guilty of several other crimes, the Jakarta Post daily said. "Ibrahim was proven guilty beyond all reasonable doubt of treason, arms possession and extortion," presiding judge Rahmawati reportedly told the trial.
Prosecutors had recommended a death sentence, but the judge said he had taken into account Ibrahim’s expression of remorse, pledge to quit GAM and his family. Ibrahim told the court he would appeal the jail term.
On May 19 the government launched an all-out military campaign to crush GAM, which has been fighting since 1976 for independence for the energy-rich province on Sumatra island. The campaign was extended for six months last week. The judges said Ibrahim had led some 120 men and committed crimes disrupting Aceh’s security and economy. He was caught with his wife in the North Sumatran city of Medan on October 20 as they were preparing to flee to Malaysia. His wife, Nurlina Binti Abdullah, has been sentenced to two years in jail. In a separate trial in Aceh’s capital, Banda Aceh, a district court jailed a businessman, Lasmadi M Namin, for 32 months for raising funds for GAM partly through extortion, the Jakarta Post said. Namin said he would appeal. Meanwhile as fighting continued, 16 suspected rebels and four civilians were killed between Thursday and Saturday, while nine guerrillas were arrested, government forces in Aceh said in a press release Sunday.
Guerrillas shot dead three civilians in three separate locations in South Aceh on Friday while residents found another civilian dead in East Aceh on Friday, the military release added.
The military has said more than 500 GAM rebels have already been sentenced to jail terms since the start of the campaign to wipe them out. More than 900 rebels have also been killed in the offensive, it said.