The police seized IDR 10 million (approximately USD 1000) from Zulfikar’s dorm and asked for the Private Identification Number (PIN) for his ATM card. No warrant was produced upon the arrest.
Lana Teresa Siahaan of Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) informed the AHRC that Zulfikar was taken away of his dorm in Pasar Rumput by six unidentified police officers at 1 a.m on 1 April 2014. He was arrested along with two other men, Zulkifli and Bahar. Zulfikar was blindfolded with black tape and taken to an unidentified location where he was beaten up and trampled on.
The police seized IDR 10 million (approximately USD 1000) from Zulfikar’s dorm and asked for the Private Identification Number (PIN) for his ATM card. No warrant was produced upon the arrest.
Following the arrest, Zulfikar’s sister came to the dorm and inquired from the head of the neighbourhood (Ketua RT) as to where the police had taken her brother. The sister visited three police stations in Central Jakarta to find her brother, yet none of these police stations had any information. Only after she finished visiting the police stations did she receive a phone message from an unidentified number containing the pictures of her brother, Zulfikli, and Bahar. The faces of Zulfikar and Bahar were bruised and swollen, whereas Zulfikli appeared to be unharmed. It was alleged that a police officer of Central Jakarta District Police – one of the three police stations visited by Zulfikar – was the sender of the message.
The sister visited Central Jakarta District Police for the second time on the same day to find Zulfikar. Yet the police officer in duty claimed that there has been no ‘Zulfikar’ had been arrested or detained in Central Jakarta District Police during the last two days. The family was finally able to meet Zulfikar at Central Jakarta District Police on the day when the arrest warrant was issued on 3 April 2014.
Zulfikar’s mother informed LBH Jakarta that her son was beaten up and forced to confess to be a watch thief. The police claimed that the theft took place in the afternoon of 27 March 2014. Yet, according to the witnesses, Zulfikar was in the dorm with them when the theft took place.
The family and their lawyers of LBH Jakarta requested a pre-trial hearing against the Central Jakarta District Police to the court on 3 June 2014. Yet, since the first hearing on the theft case against Zulfikar only started on 16 June 2014, the pre-trial hearing has to be dismissed by law. LBH Jakarta is scheduled to file a complaint on the torture and fabrication charges against Zulfikar to the National Human Rights Commission on Monday, 23 June 2014.
Zulfikar is originally from Makassar, South Sulawesi. He arrived in Jakarta on 12 March 2014 to attend the selection process for a position of a journalist at beritasatu.com.