Banda Aceh, Indonesia – Indonesia released hundreds of Acehnese rebel prisoners Wednesday, honoring a major concession in a recent peace deal and triggering tearful reunions as the former inmates returned to their tsunami-devastated homeland.
Many of those released from jails in Aceh and on Java Island claimed to have been beaten by Indonesian security forces while in detention.
Some alleged the security forces administered electric shocks to their genitals, tongues and wrists to extract confessions.
The government said it would investigate the claims but accused the rebels of torturing soldiers and their families.
The former inmates said they would honor the peace deal, which is seen as the best chance Acehnese have had in years to bring a permanent end to three decades of sporadic fighting that has killed some 15,000 people.
“I just want to be a normal guy. I only joined up because it was the cool thing to do,” said Adip, one of 450 former fighters who arrived at Banda Aceh’s main airport from prisons on Java Island where they has been serving sentences for treason.
The president signed a decree Tuesday night ordering the release Wednesday of all 1,400 inmates held across the country. By mid-afternoon, some 600 has been confirmed freed.
Officials were not immediately available to say whether all had been released.
In two weeks, the rebels are scheduled to hand over their weapons and most Indonesian troops are to begin a gradual withdrawal. The process is being overseen by the European Union and Southeast Asian countries.
Aceh lost more than 130,000 people in the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami, the highest death toll in the 11 countries affected by the disaster. The joint suffering endured by its 4.3 million people was a factor in bringing the two sides back to the negotiating table.
