US spotlight on East Timorese human rights

UNSURPRISINGLY, public safety and security have come under fire in Timor-Leste with the latest US State Department report on human rights. While acknowledging the "free and fair" elections in mid-2007, the report details the attempted assassination of President José Ramos-Horta in February 2008 and "serious problems" over "discipline and accountability" during the past year. These problems include:

• Police use of excessive force and abuse of authority
• Perception of impunity
• Arbitrary arrest and detention
• An inefficient and understaffed judiciary that deprived citizens of due process and an expeditious and fair trial
• Conditions in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) that endangered health, security,
• education, and women's and children's rights.
• Domestic violence, rape and sexual abuse.

The report briefly sums up the events of last February thus:

In an exchange of gunfire with armed rebels on February 11, President Ramos-Horta was wounded seriously and PM Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão was unhurt. As provided for in the constitution, the government imposed a state of emergency from February through May. International security forces in the country included the UN Police (UNPOL) within the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) and the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), neither of which was under the direct control of the government. The national security forces are the National Police (PNTL) and Defence Forces (F-FDTL). While the government generally maintained control over these forces, there were problems with discipline and accountability.

The report says there were "no politically motivated killings during the year".

However, on February 11, F-FDTL guards shot and killed Major Alfredo Reinado and one of his followers when a band of rebels led by Reinado gained entry to the presidential compound; President Ramos-Horta was severely wounded. A separate group of Reinado's followers attacked the convoy of PM Xanana Gusmão. Gusmão was unhurt. The government formed a joint PNTL/F-FDTL command to apprehend the attackers, and Parliament declared a state of siege that imposed a curfew, relaxed legal requirements for searches and arrests, and restricted demonstrations. The application of the state of siege was modified as a state of emergency and extended on several occasions until Reinado's second in command, Lieutenant Gastao Salsinha, and 11 others surrendered to the authorities on April 29.

Other incidents cited by the report included:

• On April 5, in Bobonaro District, an F-FDTL member shot and killed a civilian who reportedly threatened the F-FDTL member with a machete. The authorities investigated the case and forwarded it to the prosecutor general for further action.
• Legal proceedings were ongoing against Luis da Silva, an off duty officer accused of shooting a member of then candidate Xanana Gusmao's security detail at a political rally in Viqueque in June 2007.
• There were no developments in the inquiry into the August 2007 case of a PNTL unit firing into a crowd in Viqueque, killing two.
• The four F-FDTL soldiers sentenced to 12 years, 11 years, and 10 years for the 2006 killing of eight unarmed PNTL personnel were serving their sentences at the military prison at F-FDTL headquarters in Dili. A local human rights nongovernmental organisation (NGO) and government contacts expressed concern that there was no civilian oversight of the prison.

The report also says there were no developments in the following 2006 cases:

• The January killing of three men by Border Patrol Unit personnel.
• The May mob killing of a police officer in Ermera District; and
• The May killing of six people in a house set on fire by a mob.

Investigations into other cases stemming from the April-May 2006 violence continued. Some individuals identified for investigation in the 2006 UN Commission of Inquiry Report were subpoenaed to testify regarding their role in illegal arms distribution.

In May, 2008 President Ramos-Horta granted pardons to a number of persons including former interior minister Rogerio Lobato sentenced for illegally distributing weapons during the 2006 violence and Joni Marques, a pro-Indonesia militia leader, sentenced for multiple killings in 1999.

• US State Department Human Rights Report on Timor-Leste, 25 Feb 2009

Reinado's death - shoot-out or execution?

Are the murky circumstances of the killing of East Timor rebel leader and cult hero Alfredo Reinado and a top henchman starting to unravel? Did they die in a shoot-out with security forces during a presidential assassination attempt - as the authorities would have us believe - or were they executed?
An autopsy report points to their execution, rather than being shot by security forces during a presidential assassination attempt, according to Paul Toohey in The Australian. His report was widely picked up by international news services and monitoring agencies. The autopsy showed rebel soldier Leopoldino Exposto was shot once in the back of the head at "close range" following the February 11 assassination attempt on President Jose Ramos-Horta, according to The Australian.
Reinado, the 42-year-old army major who led a rebellion against the former Fretilin government, was also shot and killed at Ramos-Horta's presidential compound and four bullet entry wounds showed he was also shot at extreme close range. "There were multiple complex gunshot wound (sic) on the left face surrounding the left eye, base of nose, upper cheek and forehead with laceration and blackening of the skin," Reinado's autopsy said.
Reports of executions by security forces could stoke fresh tensions in the fledgling country, where ethnic tensions are still raw. Interviewed by Radio New Zealand, Toohey ran through various scenarios alleging the Australians, Indonesians and other foreign hands in the deaths.
East Timor has been unable to achieve stability since its hard-won independence, with the army splitting along regional lines in 2006, triggering violence that killed 37 people and drove 150,000 from their homes. Reuters reported:

The autopsy said burning and blackening around Reinado's wounds in the eye, neck, chest and hand suggested he had been shot at a distance of less than 30 cms, rather than by guards standing 10 metres away, which is the official version of events.
"Burning and blackening is a feature of very close-range shots, probably from less than a foot away. If you see burning and soot-type burning, it indicates that the barrel of the gun was very close to the skin's surface," David Ranson, of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, told the newspaper.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Ramos Horta was critically wounded in the assassination attempt and he spent two months recovering in Australia, where he was flown for life-saving surgery.
The attack also targetted Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, who escaped injury.
The autopsies were conducted by forensic pathologist Muhammad Nurul Islam, who wrote that Exposto and Reinado were killed with a high-velocity rifle. Nurul said Reinado's wounds featured "blackening/burning" especially so in his left eye, where the marks covered a large 10cm x 9cm area, possibly indicating a point-blank shot.

New Zealand's Defence and Foreign Affairs Ministers Phil Goff Goff and Winston Peters said they were awaiting briefings on "new and possibly dangerous developments" in Timor-Leste.

• Autopsy doubt on rebel Alfred Reinado
• Live Journal - Timor-Leste
• Alfred Reinado - why he staged his revolt (retrospective on YouTube)

Timor journo protests against UN 'intimidation'

Leading Timorese photojournalist Jose Belo, a stringer for Australia's SBS Dateline and director of Tempo Semanál Weekly, is fed up with the intimidation and harassment from UN authorities in Dili. He doesn't believe it's the brief of UNMIT to heavy journos and try to extract information from them with jail threats and suchlike. In fact, he is so annoyed that he has sent a protest letter to UNMIT with copies to President Jose Ramos Horta, PM Xanana Gusmão, a bunch of parliamentary and judicial heavyweights, journalist colleagues in East Timor and the media freedom groups Committee to Protect Journalists (New York) and Reporters Sans Frontières (Paris). According to his letter, quoted by Pacific Media Watch at the weekend:
On April 18, 2008, I was approached by United Nations police investigators who said they wanted to interview me in relation to stories I have worked on involving the rebel leaders Major Alfredo Reinado and Lieutenant Gastao Salsinha.
They asked me to sign a document agreeing to be a witness in the ongoing investigations into February 11th attack [on President Horta]. I declined to sign the document and was told if I did not appear for an interview at 9.30am on April 22nd 2008, an arrest warrant would be issued.
Jose said the UN investigators wanted to ask him about an exchange of fire involving Reinado at Fatuahi in 2006, which he had filmed for Dateline, and also a phone interview with Salsinha from the previous week, also for Dateline. Reinado was killed in the February attacks against President Horta and Prime Minister Gusmão.
That work is already in the public [domain]. I refer the investigators to those programmes for all the information they need. I did attend the police station at the appointed time, with lawyers - to comply with the Timor-Leste laws and follow the rules of journalism.
My fear was that they wished to seize my phone contacts and my film archives and interrogate me about my sources.
Belo decided to attend the interview but ... it really
upset me because my personal feeling was that it was a kind of pressure or intimidation [on] the press.
And it makes me start to think that East Timor’s media should not be intimidated by UN-endorsed threats of arrest or possible jail for failing to disclose information.
The UN should be a model for human rights. It should not attempt to violate media freedoms.
I was one journalist. The investigation team was many. I should not have to do their jobs for them.
Pictured: A protest banner in Dili against UNMIT on World Media Freedom Day (May 3) - "UN: You can kill a newsman, but you can't kill the news"

• Ramos Horta and the Timor rumour mill
• Plot thickens as leader of alleged 'coup' attempt surrenders
• Interview with Democracy.Now's Amy Goodman
• Full text of protest letter
• Pacific Media Watch
  

Assassination attempts jeopardise Timorese peace efforts

Australia now rues the botched bid to arrest renegade Major Alfredo Reinado in a violent raid on his mountain hideout last year that saw five of the rebel's men killed. According to The Age, Australian and other forces (including from New Zealand) are bracing for possible reprisal attacks following the death of Reinado, who had been charged with murder. He was shot in return fire when gunmen led by Reinado wounded President Jose Ramos-Horta in a dawn assassination attempt. Ramos-Horta had last year waived an arrest warrant for Reinado, deciding instead to seek talks and a peaceful resolution. But meaningful negotiations never eventuated. While Dili is reported to be calm, the attack jeopardises the efforts to normalise the country. The Age's account:

East Timor has been plunged into a new crisis by failed assassination attempts on its two top leaders and the killing of a rebel military leader.
East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta was shot and wounded in a dawn attack on his Dili home by gunmen led by rebel soldier Major Alfredo Reinado, who was killed in return fire, the government said.
A presidential guard was injured.
Timorese Foreign Minister Zacarias da Costa said Ramos-Horta had undergone exploratory surgery at the Australian military hospital in Dili. Da Costa described the president's condition as "stable".
"He underwent surgery to locate bullets. One had hit him in the back and passed through to the stomach," he said.
It is understood Ramos-Horta will be flown to Darwin for further treatment. Royal Darwin Hospital is on standby.
"He will survive, and this country will survive", said Deputy Prime Minister Jose Luis Guterres. Ninety minutes after the first attack, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped unhurt when his car was ambushed and shot at as he drove to his offices to deal with the crisis.
Gusmao's home was also attacked, bodyguards said.
Pictured: A election poster during last year's election campaign that swept Ramos-Horta to the presidency.

• East Timor's top leaders survive 'coup'
• Rudd pledged more troops for East Timor
• Fretilin questions security breach
• NZ troops put on standby for East Timor
• NZ troops guard East Timor leaders' homes
• MP accuses diggers over Reinado fracas
  

Reinado video allegations target Xanana

A leaked videotape featuring fugitive rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, a former military police major and something of a cult figure with some reactionaries, blaming prime minister Xanana Gusmão as the person responsible for the crisis that engulfed East Timor in 2006. It has featured in the media and now Fretilin has called a media conference to discuss the contents of the tape. A statement by Francisco Guterres LuOlo, president of Fretilin, on 8 January 2008 said:

FRETILIN has called this press conference today to make public to the People of Timor-Leste, the Maubere people, that on the 31st of December 2007, we wrote to the President of the Republic and other institutions of our State regarding the allegations made by Mr Alfredo Reinado in a video recording that came into our possession last week, which has serious ramifications for our nation's stability and peace, and which will impact on our public institutions.
In that video recording that has been widely distributed by unidentified persons, Mr Alfredo Reinado accuses Mr Xanana Gusmão as the person responsible for the crisis that engulfed our nation in 2006. I am sure that all of us here today have heard or seen the said video recording, or have perhaps read about it in a newspaper.
When we viewed a copy of this recording that we obtained from the media, FRETILIN became extremely concerned with the impact that it would have on peace and stability in our country, as the statements made by Mr Alfredo Reinado may well lead to further public panic amongst our people already traumatized by similar statements from last year's crisis, and there may well be a surge in the number of currently internally displaced persons. We are concerned that the statements by Mr Reinado are aimed at continuing to divide our people and create further serious instability in our country.

• Full Fretilin statement
• YouTube video profile on Reinado
• Evidence mounts against Gusmao - by John Martinkus, New Matilda