Guardian, Wednesday September 18, 2002
Arrested Briton's knifepoint ordeal
John Aglionby, Banda Aceh
A Scottish academic detained eight days ago in Indonesia yesterday said she was
subjected to a catalogue of abuse at the hands of the authorities during the first week
of her ordeal.
Lesley McCulloch, 40, of Glasgow, and her travelling companion American nurse Joy
Lee Sadler, 42, met diplomats and lawyers yesterday for the first time since being
apprehended on September 10, when they were brought to Banda Aceh, the
Acehnese capital on the northern tip of Sumatra.
They had been kept in secret locations prior to yesterday's two-hour meeting with
British and American embassy representatives at the Banda Aceh police
headquarters.
Earlier the British honorary consul in Medan was denied access to Ms McCulloch
even when they were at the city's airport together for several hours.
In a note smuggled to the Guardian past her police guards while on the plane from
Medan to Banda Aceh, Ms McCulloch listed what she claimed they had endured
since an army patrol picked them up in a remote part of south Aceh.
It said: "Held seven nights, denied right of contact with embassy, abused by army,
knife held at my throat by army, not allowed to make report re two points above, sleep
deprivation, denied medical assistance, intimidation, sexual harassment by police,
they tried to force us to sign false statements, lack of translator."
At Banda Aceh airport Ms McCulloch, who until recently was lecturing at the
University of Tasmania and is now researching books on the 26-year-long separatist
insurgency in Aceh, was briefly able to give details about how they were detained.
She said an army patrol stopped the bus they were on with a guide and started
threatening them. "This soldier held a knife to my throat and screamed at the top of
his voice he was going to kill me."
The three women were handed over to the south Aceh police on September 11, who
detained them until last Sunday. They then disappeared for 36 hours as they were
taken across Sumatra to Medan.
Ms McCulloch said she and Ms Sadler were beaten by soldiers at the remote base at
Keunde Rundeng where they were held on the first night. "The commander punched
Joy in the stomach and one of his men hit me," she said.
Indonesian detectives say the two foreigners signed documents acknowledging they
could be detained initially for up to 20 days. They are likely to be charged with
violating their tourist visas and could face five years in jail and a 25 million rupiah
(£1,800) fine.
Officers say the women, who reportedly had just spent four days at a rebel base, were
carrying documents relating to guerrilla activities. "These included photos on a laptop
that showed separatist activities in the area they were found in," a police spokesman
said. "We also confiscated a camera and handycam."
In her note Ms McCulloch denied the accusations. "They say we have rebel
documents, we do not," she said. "They have nothing to pin on us, but their paranoia
is close to insanity."
The leading investigator, Senior Commander Surya Dhar-ma, hinted the fact that the
women were found so close to a rebel stronghold was sufficient evidence to convict
them.
A British embassy spokesman said it was dissatisfied with how Ms McCulloch had
been treated and would be making representations.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002
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