Mother of Mob Violence Victim Still Fighting for Justice

The mother of a teacher at an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia who was burned to death two years ago after he was accused of impregnating a female student is still seeking justice for her son.

“Two years after my son’s death, his reputation is still tainted,” Endang Sri Maryati told the Jakarta Globe. “People still think of him as an adulterer. Meanwhile, I’ve lost my home, my livelihood.”

After meeting with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) on Monday, Endang said she had come to Jakarta to demand justice for her son, Muhammad Zarkasyi.

She called on the leaders of the Al Fatah Islamic boarding school in Magetan, East Java, to meet with her and to honor its promise to pay for her house, which was burned down during the mob attack.

In early 2009, a group of male students abducted Zarkasyi and beat him, forcing him to confess that he had impregnated one of the female students at the school.

Zarkasyi quit the school after the brutal attack and began selling cellular phones and phone credit vouchers.

In April that same year, a group of Al Fatah students attempted to burn down Zarkasyi’s house.

Neighbors, however, managed to put the fire out.

The group return to Zarkasyi’s house the following month, poured gasoline over him and set him alight. Zarkasyi died of his injuries and his house and store were burned to the ground.

After his death, 14 people were brought to trial and sentenced to between one and four years in jail.

Endang said most of those convicted in the murder had since been released from prison, while three suspects, including the alleged ringleader, remained at large.

“My son had not seen the girl for more than eight months, how could he have gotten her pregnant? It was strange,” Endang said.  “One year is too lenient for murdering someone in the most inhumane way imaginable.

“The girl who was allegedly impregnated by my son has also disappeared. She never answered the court’s summons to testify,” she added.

Zainal Arifin, a lawyer from the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), said efforts to mediate with Al Fatah leaders had come to a dead end. 

He said school officials had been avoiding Endang and even refused Komnas HAM’s offers of mediation.

Endang, meanwhile, is also seeking action from the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

“I want to know how the boarding school was allowed to teach violence to their students,” she said.

Representatives from both ministries, who also attended the meeting on Monday, promised to look into the curriculum and monitor the school.

“My demand is clear,” Endang said. “I want Al Fatah’s officials to rehabilitate my son’s name and to pay for our house, and I won’t stop until they agree to meet me.”

She has been living at the office of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) for the past 20 days and said she would stay in Jakarta until she received a satisfactory answer from the school.

Kabul Supriyadhie, a commissioner from Komnas HAM, said Al Fatah had ignored two previous requests for mediation, but did not elaborate on when the school was contacted.