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Australia,
UK, US Complicit in Indonesian Massacres,
International Judges Say
By Samantha
Hawley
July 21, 2016
"Information
Clearing House"
- "ABC"
-
A non-binding
international tribunal at The Hague has found
Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States
were complicit in facilitating the 1965 mass
killings in Indonesia.
Key points:
-
500,000 Indonesians killed in
anti-communist purge at height of Cold
War
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Report found Australia continued to back
army despite knowing about the killings
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President Joko Widodo has refused to
apologise for historic murders
An
estimated half a million people perished in what was
one of the worst massacres of the 20th Century. The
killings were triggered by a failed coup that led to
the deaths of six army generals, followed by the
mass targeting of communists.
The
International People's Tribunal at The Hague has now
ruled that Indonesia committed crimes against
humanity, but the finding is non-binding and carries
no legal weight.
The judges
found allegations of "cruel and unspeakable murders"
and the "unjustifiable imprisonment of hundreds of
thousands of people without trial" was well founded.
"It has
also been demonstrated that sexual violence,
particularly against women, was systematic and
routine, especially during the period 1965 to 1967,"
the report said.
The judges
found Indonesia responsible for the crimes and
called for the current administration to apologise
and to institute investigations and prosecutions of
those perpetrators who are still alive.
"Furthermore, the archives should be opened and the
real truth on these crimes against humanity should
be established," the judges said.
The
tribunal's report found Australia, the US and the UK
complicit by using propaganda to manipulate
international opinion in favour of the Indonesian
army.
The report
said Australia and the UK, " … shared the US aim of
seeking to bring about the overthrow of president
Sukarno."
"They
continued with this policy even after it had become
abundantly clear that killings were taking place on
a mass and indiscriminate basis. On balance, this
appears to justify the charge of complicity," the
report said.
The report
detailed horrifying details of rape and torture,
including accused communists being forced to drink
soldiers' urine, while in other cases victims' ears
were cut off and they were forced to consume them.
According
to the report, other acts of torture included,
burning body parts, electric shocks, water torture,
pulling out of fingernails and tying victims inside
a sack with snakes.
Indonesian
President Joko Widodo has said he will not apologise
for the historic atrocity, but the report argued it
was his duty to do so.
Death of a Nation: The Timor Conspiracy from John Pilger on Vimeo.
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