Indonesia recalls ambassador from Australia

November 18, 2013

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recalled his ambassador from Australia on Monday and ordered a review of bilateral cooperation following reports that an Australian security agency attempted to listen to his cellphone in 2009.

Australian Broadcasting Corp. and The Guardian reported Monday that they had documents from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden showing that the Australian agency also targeted the phones of Indonesian first lady Kristiani Herawati and another eight government ministers and officials.

The documents reportedly showed that the Australian Defence Signals Directorate, now the top-secret Australian Signals Directorate, attempted to listen to the president's phone conversations on at least one occasion and tracked activity on the phone for 15 days in August 2009.

The diplomatic spat is the second in less than a month between Indonesia and Australia stemming from Snowden's revelations linking Australia with U.S. espionage. It's an early test for Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's new government, which was elected in September and is anxious to cement ties with it populous near-neighbor before the uncertainty of Indonesian presidential elections next year.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told reporters in Jakarta on Monday afternoon that Yudhoyono had "directly ordered" the ambassador, Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, to be recalled. Natalegawa said Indonesia "is very disturbed by this matter."

"This is not a clever thing to do, it's not a smart thing to do," Natalegawa said of the reported spying. "It violates every single decent and legal instrument that I can think of." He said the onus was now on Australia to explain what happened and to make a commitment that it would never happen again.

"In short, it has not been a good day in the Indonesia-Australia relationship," Natalegawa said. He said Kesoema would soon leave the Australian capital of Canberra and fly home. No time frame was given for his return to Australia.

Indonesia's Coordinating Minister of Political and Security Affairs Joko Suyanto said in a statement that all cooperative relationships between the two countries were also under review, as were the postings of Australian officials in Jakarta.

Abbott, who was not in government in 2009, declined to comment on the reports in Parliament. "All governments gather information, and all governments know that every other government gathers information," Abbott said.

"The Australian government uses all the resources at its disposal — including information — to help our friends and our allies, not to harm them," he added. But Bob Carr, Australia's foreign minister until Abbott's coalition won September elections, advised Abbott to assure Yudhoyono that if his phone had been tapped, it wouldn't happen again.

"If the American president can give a guarantee to Angela Merkel of Germany that America won't be overhearing what she says on the phone, then we ought to be able to do it without any trouble to the president of Indonesia," Carr told Nine Network television news.

Second on the target list after the president was his wife, also known as Ani Yudhoyono. Vice President Boediono, who visited Australia last week, was third, and his predecessor, Jusuf Kalla, was fourth. Like many Indonesians, Boediono uses one name.

Also listed was the government's then-foreign spokesman, Dino Patti Djalal, who later became Indonesia's ambassador to Washington. Former Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, now a managing director at the World Bank, was also on the list.

Earlier this month, the Indonesian government called in the Australian ambassador for an explanation following reports that the Australian Embassy in Jakarta was a hub for Washington's secret electronic data collection program.

A document from Snowden published last month by the German magazine Der Spiegel describes a signals intelligence program called "Stateroom" in which U.S., British, Australian and Canadian embassies house surveillance equipment to collect electronic communications. Those countries, along with New Zealand, have an intelligence-sharing agreement known as "Five Eyes."

The Australian Embassy in Jakarta was listed as one of the embassies involved in a report from Australia's Fairfax media, along with Australian embassies in Bangkok, Hanoi, Beijing and Dili in East Timor; and High Commissions in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

McGuirk reported from Canberra, Australia. Associated Press writer Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta contributed to this report.

Indonesia eyes more jet fighters

Jakarta (UPI)
Oct 4, 2013

Indonesia is aiming to create eight new squadrons of fighter aircraft by 2024 as part of military upgrade programs, the head of the air force said.

The Indonesian Defense Force also is set to train more pilots to cope with what could be more than 100 new jet fighters if each squadron has around 16 aircraft, the Jakarta Globe newspaper reported.

"We hope that by 2024 we will have eight squadrons of fighter aircraft," Air Chief Marshal Ida Bagus Putu Dunia said.

He was speaking during a ceremony at the Sultan Hasanuddin Air Force Base in Makassar on Sulawesi Island in which the air force officially received six Russian-made Sukhoi SU-30MK2 fighter aircraft -- the last of a contract for 16 Sukhoi aircraft signed in 2007.

The Jakarta Globe report said each squadron is expected to consist of 16 Sukhoi jets, although the newspaper didn't quote Dunia specifying what the aircraft might be.

Ida said the Sukhoi jets were sophisticated fighter aircraft that offer a high deterrence and will strengthen the Indonesian air force.

The deal on the Sukhois that includes pilot training is for the air force's Squadron 11 at Hasanuddin Air Base in Makassar.

"[We] have a sufficient number of pilots to operate them, but we also are preparing pilots for new fighter aircraft," he said.

In early September the Jakarta Post newspaper reported that the last two Sukhoi fighters had arrived from Russia at the Hasanuddin base in an Antanov An-124 transport aircraft.

The Sukhoi aircraft were in completely knocked-down condition.

"The manufacturer also sent 13 technicians to assemble the aircraft [and] perform a series of tests before handing them over to the government," Hasanuddin base spokesman Maj. Muliadi said at the time.

He said usually it would take a week for the technicians to assemble the aircraft and perform the tests.

Weapons for the aircraft are being procured under separate contracts, he said.

The air force also is looking to replace its old Northrop F-5 Tiger fighter aircraft, Ida said.

"We are looking at our options as it is important to find a more sophisticated replacement," he said.

Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro confirmed the government's plan to replace its F-5 Tigers, the Jakarta Globe reported.

Yusgiantoro said the military had received a squadron of 16 supersonic advanced trainer T-50 Golden Eagle T-50s -- so-called baby F-16s -- from South Korea at the Iswahyudi Military Air Base in Madiun, on Java Island.

The T-50, which also can be used as a light fighter, was developed by Korea Aerospace Industries and Lockheed Martin and is South Korea's first indigenous supersonic aircraft.

Its maiden flight was in 2002 and it entered service with the Republic of Korea Air Force in 2005.

Source: Space Mart.
Link: http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Indonesia_eyes_more_jet_fighters_999.html.

Egypt prosecutors interrogate Jazeera team

December 30, 2013

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian state security prosecutors interrogated a team of journalists working for Al-Jazeera's English channel Monday a day after they were arrested in Cairo, a security official said Monday.

State security prosecutors usually investigate cases involving national security or terrorism. The official said the journalists from the Qatar-based network were being questioned for broadcasting without permission from a five-star hotel, the Cairo Marriott. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

It was not immediately clear if the team was facing other charges. Egypt has long accused Al-Jazeera of bias in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. But so far its crackdown on the network has mostly targeted its Arabic service and a local branch focusing on Egypt coverage.

The Interior Ministry had said its arrest of the journalists was part of its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood group, which the government branded as a "terrorist" organization last week. The ministry accused one of those arrested, without naming him, of using the hotel suite as a media center for the group from which it broadcast "rumors and false news" and to hold organizational meetings for members of the Brotherhood.

The arrests came as authorities widen its crackdown on the movement. A Cairo court on Monday also sentenced 138 pro-Morsi protesters to two years in prison with labor on charges of rioting and vandalism.

In Washington, Marie Harf, the deputy spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said the United States remains concerned about the interim Egyptian government's Dec. 25 terrorist designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as well as ongoing detentions and arrests, including for peaceful demonstrators, civil society and political activists.

"We remain deeply concerned about all of the politically motivated arrests, detentions and charges in Egypt," she said Monday. "These actions raise questions about the rule of law being applied impartially and equitably and do not move Egypt's transition forward."

Al-Jazeera network said in a statement that four of its journalists based in Cairo were detained late Sunday, including Australian award-winning correspondent Peter Greste; Al-Jazeera English Bureau Chief Mohammed Fahmy, a producer and a cameraman. The network called their detention "arbitrary", and called for their immediate release.

Al-Jazeera's offices have been stormed several times before. State pressure on the channel has intensified since Egypt's July 3 coup, which followed demonstrations by millions calling for Morsi's ouster.

Al-Jazeera journalists and cameramen have been detained and a court order has barred its local affiliate from broadcasting in Egypt since September, accusing it of endangering national security. The affiliate, Al-Jazeera Mubasher Egypt, has continued to broadcast using its studios in Doha, Qatar, collaborating with freelancers and using amateur videos.

The Al-Jazeera English team kept an office in the hotel for months. The channel's offices were raided this summer and equipment confiscated in late summer as part of a broad state crackdown. In its statement, the network said it was not officially banned in Egypt. "We condemn the arbitrary arrest of Al Jazeera English journalists working in Cairo and demand their immediate and unconditional release," the statement said.

Egypt's military-backed government has accused Al-Jazeera network of bias because its patron, Qatar, is perceived to have supported the Brotherhood, and was one of Morsi's biggest financial backers, injecting billions into the battered economy during his time in office.

In a statement on its Facebook page, the Interior Ministry said that the journalists had with them footage and protest materials from university students who staged a demonstration in support of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Meanwhile, riot police clashed with students of the Islamic Al-Azhar University in Cairo, who rallied against the military and in support of Morsi. The government accuses the protesting students of seeking to derail midterm exams. Volleys of tear gas fell inside the campus for the third straight day.

In a new move that appears designed to limit student action, a Cairo court Monday barred university students from protesting without a prior permission from their deans.

Mubarak's sons, PM Ahmed Shafiq acquitted in corruption trial

Dec. 19, 2013

CAIRO, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A criminal court in Cairo Thursday acquitted former Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq and toppled President Hosni Mubarak's sons of embezzling public funds.

Shafiq and Alaa and Gamal Mubarak were accused of misappropriating funds in the Pilots' Association for Land Development in the 1990s, with Shafiq accused of seizing land belonging to fishing farms and allocating it to the association then selling the land to Mubarak's sons at below-market prices.

Also acquitted were former Air Force Gens. Nabil Shoukry and Mohamed Reda, both former association officials who were defendants with the Mubaraks and Shafiq, Ahram Online reported.

Shafiq, who was tried in absentia, lives in Dubai where he fled after losing the presidential election runoff to the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi in 2012. Morsi was ousted this summer by the military.

A verdict in a separate corruption trial against Shafiq was expected to be announced soon.

Alaa and Gamal Mubarak also face separate trials on other corruption-related charges.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/12/19/Mubaraks-sons-PM-Ahmed-Shafiq-acquitted-in-corruption-trial/UPI-14441387460792/.

New protests at Egypt's Al-Azhar university

December 08, 2013

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian police fired tear gas Sunday in an attempt to disperse supporters of the country's ousted Islamist president protesting at the dormitories of an Islamic university in Cairo.

Students at Al-Azhar University hurled rocks at the police and tried to block traffic on a major thoroughfare outside the campus in eastern Cairo, a security official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Student Spokesman Mahmoud Salah said the police later left the area, and protesters who had taken cover inside the dorm went out to continue their protest. Salah said the students had lit a fire at the dorm gates to lessen the impact of tear gas fired by the police. He also said a number of students were injured and claimed the police fired shotgun pellets.

The security agencies always deny using them. With the start of the school year in September, Egypt's universities have become the main venue for protests by supporters of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, ousted in a popularly backed military coup in July.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest Islamist group and the one from which Morsi hails, has organized protests, with marches on campuses nearly every day. Many of them have led to clashes with security forces.

But Al-Azhar University, with largely Islamist students, has seen persistent protests against Egypt's military-backed government. Last month, 12 students from the same university were sentenced to 17 years and fined for participating in protests and clashes on the campus. Another 21 students from Al-Azhar were on Sunday referred to trial.

Salah said Sunday's protests were fuelled by the new referral, as well as a crackdown earlier in the day by university security against female protesters. Students also protested Sunday at a university in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, and at Cairo University.

In Mansoura, the students set a police car on fire, another security official said. He too was speaking on condition of anonymity. Authorities have cracked down on Morsi supporters since last summer's coup, widening a net of arrests and legal prosecution to include senior leaders as well as students and protesters.

The crackdown has recently broadened to include other non-Islamist critics of the current authorities, and a new protest law was passed last month that tightly restricts public gatherings and increases penalties for violators.

The trial of three prominent non-Islamist activists referred to court in accordance with the new law on charges of taking part in an illegal protest and assaulting policemen began Sunday. Ahmed Douma, Ahmed Maher and Mohammed Adel were some of the most prominent figures of the 2011 uprising against longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Their referral is the first of activists according to the new protest law.

Defense lawyer Amr Imam said judges booked the case for a verdict on Dec. 22. Besides asking for the defendants' release, the lawyers also said the protest law is unconstitutional for violating the right to free assembly. They asked the court to seek the opinion of the country's constitutional court, Imam said.

Khaled Dawoud, member of the liberal al-Dustour party, said the trial bodes ill for freedom of expression. "I think that today's trial aims at sending a clear message to all activists that the freedoms that the Egyptians have enjoyed after the ouster of Mubarak are no longer allowed," he said. "It's a very negative message that the government is sending to all the activists who fought for freedom" since the 2011 uprising.

Also on Sunday, security officials said the bureau chief of al-Ahram newspaper in the southern city of Assuit was arrested following a complaint by local police. Prosecutors are investigating accusations that Hamada Said "misreported" on a protest in Assuit late last month, by among other things inflating the number of protesters who took part in a pro-Morsi rally and by claiming the police was protecting the rally, held in violation of the new protest law.

Egypt: Police clash with Islamists at Tahrir

December 01, 2013

CAIRO (AP) — Police have used heavy tear gas to clear hundreds of supporters of Egypt's ousted Islamist president from Cairo's famed Tahrir square shortly after they entered and took over the plaza.

The development, late Sunday afternoon, was the first time in more than a year that Islamists entered the square in significant numbers. The location has been the near exclusive domain of liberal and secular protesters since shortly after Mohammed Morsi took office in June 2012.

The square was the birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak. That uprising was led by liberal and secular youth groups. Sunday's Islamist protesters came from Cairo University, where they have been protesting the death of an engineering student at the hands of police.

Egypt Islamists rally despite protest law

November 29, 2013

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security forces fired tear gas Friday to disperse hundreds of Islamist demonstrators defying a new protest law that has drawn widespread criticism from the international community and democracy advocates.

Since a popularly backed military coup ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July, his supporters have been staging near-daily protests calling for his reinstatement, with Friday's weekly Muslim prayers a key time for mobilizing their largest numbers. The rallies have often descended into street clashes with security forces or civilians.

In an effort to quash rallies Morsi supporters have managed to sustain despite a sharp security crackdown, authorities adopted the law Sunday, restricting the right to protest. Among other rules, it requires organizers to notify the Interior Ministry three days before holding a protest, while also setting prison terms and high fines for violators.

Since the law was enacted, security forces forcefully dispersed several protests, including one organized by non-Islamist activists. Clashes at a student demonstration left one dead Thursday. The Interior Ministry warned on Thursday that security forces will deal "firmly" with "illegal" protests organized by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group.

Friday's clashes erupted when security forces moved to disperse the scattered protests organized by Islamists across the country. In one western Cairo neighborhood, police fired tear gas as protesters hurled stones and burnt tires, security officials said.

In Cairo's twin city of Giza, residents hurled stones and bottles at Morsi supporters. In the Suez canal city of Suez, army and police fired water cannons to disperse the Islamists. In the industrial city of Mahalla al-Kobra in northern Egypt, police also dispersed protesters.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters. Security had been beefed up in the capital in anticipation of the protests, with army and police forces deployed in several main squares, state news agency MENA said.

In one protest in eastern Cairo, Islamists chanted "down with all killers, down with Abdel-Fattah" referring to Egypt's army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who led the coup against Morsi last July. They also held banners with the outline of a hand raising four fingers, a symbol used to commemorate the violent dispersal by security forces of an Islamist sit-in in mid-August.

Ashraf Abdel Wahab, a demonstrator who came with his wife and eight children to protest in Cairo, said the new protest law would not stop Morsi supporters from marching. "We do not care about the protest law whatsoever," he said. "This is not the first time they attack marches or kill protesters. It's just a cover that they're using."