Indonesian soldiers jailed in Aceh

Seven soldiers have been charged in connection with the incident

An Indonesian military tribunal has jailed three soldiers for beating up villagers during the offensive against separatist rebels in Aceh province.

Military judge Major Hulwani told the court in Lhokseumawe that the three men had tarnished the reputation of the armed forces, and sentenced each to four months and 20 days in prison.

Prosecutors had recommended tougher sentences, but Judge Hulwani said the defendants had admitted their wrongdoing and had no criminal records.

The men were charged in relation to an incident in Lawang, in Bireun district, on 27 May. Three residents, including the village chief, were badly beaten by soldiers hunting for separatist rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (Gam).

Four other soldiers have been charged in connection with the same incident. Three of them went on trial on Monday.

This is the first court-martial to take place since Indonesia launched its crackdown in Aceh on 19 May.

The military has a poor human rights record in the province, and it has cited these trials as evidence of efforts to curb excess brutality during this campaign.

Indonesian military spokesman Shafri Samsudin told the BBC that the verdict proved the army's credibility.

But the BBC correspondent in Jakarta, Rachel Harvey, says the relatively light sentences are unlikely to deflect all criticism of the military's conduct.

Both Gam and Acehnese villagers have complained of violence against civilians, saying that many innocent victims have already been killed in the conflict.

Last week, the New York based Human Rights Watch said it had "received reports of extrajudicial executions by Indonesian forces" as well as plans to forcibly relocate large numbers of Acehnese.

Senior officers deny that soldiers are targeting civilians, but have acknowledged that it is hard to distinguish between insurgents and villagers.

In a further sign that ordinary Acehnese people are being affected by the conflict, 76 village chiefs in Bireun district announced they were resigning over the weekend because of harassment from both the army and the rebels.

"Rather than being continuously faulted (by both camps), we are opting to resign," one of them, Tengku Razali, told Kompas newspaper.

Marty Natalegawa, a spokesman for Indonesia's foreign ministry, told the BBC's World Today programme on Sunday that the government no longer wanted foreigners to travel to Aceh.

"The perspective is very much a safety one," said Mr Natalegawa. "We do not want guests to Indonesia to come in harm's way."

He said that the shooting of two German tourists on Friday "added further justification to our concerns".

One of the Germans was killed in the incident.

The authorities have also recently announced that they are building a special detention centre for captured rebels on an island off the coast of Aceh.

The facility will be big enough to hold up to 1,000 people.

Indonesia's military said on Monday it has killed 160 separatist rebels in Aceh and taken more than 300 prisoners as the operation to crush Gam entered its fourth week.

The Indonesian police have also arrested four human rights activists in Aceh.

The four include a member of the Centre for Human Rights, and a volunteer working for the Indonesian Red Cross.

A spokesman for the Centre for Human Rights told the BBC that they were accused of having links with the rebel separatists.