REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) is studying the shooting of terror suspects on the southwestern outskirts of Jakarta on the New Year's Eve, to check for possible human rights violations.
"We have received clarification about the evidence collected from the scene," Komnas HAM Chief Siti Noor Laila stated at the National Police Headquarters here on Monday.
Siti explained that she had reviewed the video footage of a terror suspect being gunned down while riding a motorcycle and also the footage of five terror suspects engaged in gun battle with the anti-terror police squad, Densus 88, at their rented house.
She added that evaluating the evidence was crucial, as it was related to a threat other than terrorism.
"It is important to study the threat, particularly when it comes to theology, to see whether or not it threatens the national ideology," she emphasized.
Therefore, merely asking for information from the police will not suffice, she claimed.
"We need information from witnesses. We have sought information from a member of the Densus 88 squad, who was shot during the operation. We also plan to gather information from the relatives of the victim (member of Densus 88)," she noted.
She was weighing the pros and cons of the operation against the terror suspects. Some people believe that the shooting violated the standing procedures and law, on grounds that the terror suspects were shot at, rather than being taken into custody.
Police Chief Gen. Sutarman claimed that the shooting was intended to protect the Densus 88 members from attack by the suspected terrorists.
"The police would not have shot the suspected terrorists dead, if they were not dangerous," he said.
Six terror suspects were shot dead in an encounter with the counter-terrorism police squad on Dec. 31, in Ciputat, South Tangerang district, Banten province.
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