Indonesia bans former Islamic State fighters and their families
In a bold move for a country with an Islamic majority, Indonesia has announced it is locking out homegrown Islamic State fighters and their families.
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Indonesia has taken a hard line against homegrown Islamic State (IS) fighters and their families labelling them a “terrorist virus” and refusing to repatriate them.
Known in Indonesia as FTF – or foreign terrorist fighters – as many as 700 people, including women and children in Syria, have had the door to their homeland slammed shut.
Co-ordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mohammad Mahfud MD has denounced the fighters and sympathisers as a “terrorist virus” that may infect Indonesian’s wider population.
It is a bold move for Indonesia, which is the world’s most populous Islamic nation.
“These Foreign Terrorist Fighters have burned their passport and do not admit their citizenship. We don’t know who they are. They were only found by outsiders from the CIA. We will not repatriate these FTFs,” Mr Mahfud said after a cabinet meeting with President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo.
He told News Corp Australia the government’s priority is to guarantee its 267 million citizens are safe from the threat of terrorism.
“If you have joined a terrorist (organisation), why should you be sent home? The point is that terrorists won’t be sent home.”
He said the state will protect its citizens.
The government of President Widodo will compile more comprehensive data about the identity and number of Indonesian nationals who have joined or fought with IS.
However, the government will consider repatriating children aged under 10 on a case-by-case basis, depending on what family they have in Indonesia.
Indonesia has suffered at the hands of homegrown terrorists from the Bali bomb in Kuta in 2002, which killed 202 people to the recent knife attack on its Chief Security Minister Wiranto in October last year by a husband and wife team.
The pair were members of the armed and outlawed Indonesian Jamaah Anshaut Daulah (JAD) which is linked to IS.
The same group carried out a series of attacks in churches in Surabaya in 2018, which claimed 23 lives and another in Jakarta in 2016, which was masterminded by its leader Aman Abdurrahman from his jail cell.
He remains on death row for terror crimes.
Anggara Suwahju, director executive at the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR), believes there is no legal basis for prohibiting Indonesian citizens from returning home whether they were foreign terrorist fighters or not.
“Article 14 paragraph one of Immigration Law states that every Indonesian citizen cannot be denied entry into Indonesian territory,” he said.
“Article 27 of Human Rights Law also states that Indonesian citizens have the right to leave and re-enter the territory of the Republic of Indonesia, in accordance with statutory provisions.”
Former IS fighters returning to Indonesia could face terrorism charges, which covers actions committed in Indonesia or other countries.
Mr Anggara also pointed out that former IS fighters wanting to avoid Indonesia’s Terrorism Laws could be tried at the International Criminal Court, if allegations are serious and include violations of international humanitarian laws and international law, including crimes against humanity.
Originally published as Indonesia bans former Islamic State fighters and their families
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