Subject: Dili murder
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 01:24:10 +1000
From: gheard@surf.net.au (Geoffrey Heard)União Democrática Timorense TIMORESE
DEMOCRATIC UNION MEDIA RELEASE For immediate release: 11.45 pm AEST, Friday 31/7/98 Dili
student leader gunned down by secret police assassination squad
SYDNEY: Three Indonesian secret police (SGI) thugs in civilian clothes gunned down East
Timorese student leader, Pedro Araújo, 24, outside his home in Dili early on Thursday,
according to Timorese separatist leaders. Family members told how the three gunmen banged
on the Araújo family home door in the Dili suburb of Bairro Pite at about two o'clock in
the morning. As Pedro Araújo stepped outside, they mowed him down with a fusillade of
nine shots.
They then radioed waiting police to take Araújo's bullet riddled body away. Late
tonight, police were refusing to return the body to his grieving family.
The President of the Timorese Democratic Union, João Carrascalão, tonight called on
Indonesia's President B. J. Habibie to order the instant arrest of the three assassins and
to take immediate steps to stop the bloodshed. "If President Habibie is genuine about
peace in East Timor, he will immediately condemn this killing, order the arrest of the
assassins, and have them tried openly under civilian law for the crime of murder. "He
will also order an immediate end to the terror in East Timor and he will make that order
stick.
"If he does not do that, we will know he either cannot or will not do it. Either
way, we and the world will know just how genuine President Habibie is and whether he is
truly the President of Indonesia or just a puppet in the hands of the faceless men of the
army and intelligence services." Mr Carrascalão said the hearts of Timorese all over
the world were with Pedro Araújo's family tonight. "He was a young man who had shown
exceptional leadership qualities in the recent peaceful anti-Indonesian demonstrations.
President Habibie should have been seeking him out to talk to him about a peaceful
solution in East Timor. "Instead, assassins mercilessly gunned him down on his own
doorstep."
FURTHER INFORMATION: João Carrascalão, President, UDT % (02) 9823 5616 0418 767 101
Issued on behalf of UDT by Geoffrey Heard & Associates Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Geoffrey Heard MarketNOW Marketing - PR - Advertising that sells like crazy. Tel: +61 3
9583 0788 Email: gheard@surf.net.au
Back to August Menu
Back to Main Postings Menu |
