Selma Milovanovic – One-year-old Mayuri wriggles out of her father's arms and flops to the ship's deck. Gripping her father Sidik's hand, she takes wobbly steps, gurgling and smiling.
Around them, a rooster crows and children laugh. Tourists buy cool drinks on the ship-turned-cafe, surveying the ocean and settlements below.
Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – A West Aceh district bylaw banning Muslim women from wearing short skirts or tight jeans is unclear and could lead to chaos, a female activist said on Friday.
AHRC-STM-047-2010
Nurfika Osman – For 40-year-old Syarifuddin, serving in the Shariah Police in staunchly Muslim Aceh was his life's calling.
"I feel like Wilayatul Hisbah is like my second wife. I always love to go to the street with my officers to uphold the Shariah law in every nook and cranny of this province," Syarifuddin said, referring to the religious police by its official name.
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Almost six years after the devastating 2004 tsunami, which killed more than 130,000 people in Aceh province, most victims have recovered from physical and psychological issues to resume their daily routines in a new environment.
Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is calling for the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission to resolve the lingering problems over past gross violation of human rights in Aceh.
Executive summary and recommendations
Indonesia on Friday promised a full investigation into the public humiliation, mob beating and possible caning under Islamic law of two people suspected of having an adulterous tryst.
An official from the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Aceh Barat and the married woman he was caught having intercourse with were paraded naked through a village, tied to a pole and brutally beaten, it was reported on Thursday.
Nurdin Hasan & Nurfika Osman, Banda Aceh – A day after a powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake shook Sumatra Island, Aceh is starting to count the costs.
Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – A human rights activist on Thursday slammed the humiliating punishment meted out to a teacher in Aceh Barat and the married woman he was suspected of having an affair with after the pair were marched through a village naked, tied to a pole and then brutally beaten.
Nurdin Hassan and AFP, Banda Aceh – A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Sumatra island early Wednesday, injuring at least four people, one of them critically, in Simeulue district, Aceh province.
A tsunami alert was issued in the province and in Thailand, though both were cancelled.
Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – An activist from a leading Indonesian rights group on Wednesday called for a comprehensive investigation into the recent finding of sacks full of bones in an area formerly used as a police base during the decades of violent conflict in Aceh.
Hotli Simanjuntak and Dicky Christanto, Aceh, Jakarta – The government's campaign against terrorist groups in Aceh escalated this week with a police officer and another civilian losing their lives in a skirmish.
Nurdin Hasan & Farouk Arnaz, Aceh – The ongoing police paramilitary operations here against suspected militants have claimed another civilian life as the number of suspects charged under antiterrorism laws rose to 14 on Thursday.
Farouk Arnaz – The National Police and Aceh Police conducted raids and arrested more suspects who were allegedly involved with a terrorist network that held a military training camp in the Aceh Besar district during a joint operation on Tuesday, officers said at a press conference.
Nurdin Hasan – Two prominent rights groups in Aceh on Wednesday called for police to end their military-like operations against an armed group allegedly linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terrorist network.
Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Kamaruddin approached his wife and told her that he would go out and try to catch fish for their next meal. What Laili Fajri didn't know was it was the last time she would ever see him alive.
Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – A security analyst on Monday questioned claims that four men recently arrested in Aceh were linked to the regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Terrorism commentators are divided over the recent arrest of terror suspects in Aceh, with one saying the suspects were linked to Noordin M. Top and another claiming they may not be terrorists at all.
Nurdin Hasan & Farouk Arnaz – Terrorism expert Sidney Jones said on Friday that four suspects arrested during recent police operations in the Jalin Jantho region of Aceh Besar may be linked to the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and not regional terror organization Jemaah Islamiyah.
Tom Allard, Jakarta – Indonesian police have launched a manhunt for up to 50 members of a suspected terrorist group in Aceh amid reports that an Afghan national is among those who fled a raid on a training camp on Monday night.
Heru Andriyanto & Nurdin Hasan – Aceh offers many advantages as a safe haven for Jemaah Islamiyah to regroup, experts and sources said on Wednesday, following the arrests of four suspected members of the shadowy terror group in the province.
Kathy Marks, Banda Aceh – "Excuse me," says Iskandar, as his mobile phone beeps for the umpteenth time in the past half hour. It's another anonymous tip-off, alerting him to a young couple who have been seen spending time together alone.
Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Participants were met with applause, but also taunts when they stepped on the catwalk during a Miss Transvestite Aceh pageant on Saturday evening.
Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – In their best Acehese costumes, kitsch jewelry and towering hair buns, 40 transsexuals sashayed down a stage on Saturday to loud club music, disco lights and rapturous applause as they competed in the Miss Transsexual Aceh 2010.
Adi Warsidi, Jakarta – Thousands of female protesters took to the streets in Aceh Province on Monday (8/2) to demand the release of remaining political prisoners in government prisons, criticising the government for failing to complete one of the deals in the the 2005 peace accord with with the Free Aceh Movement.
Nurdin Hasan – Aceh still remembers Tjut Nya Dien, one in a long tradition of heroes who tirelessly fought against the Dutch. But since independence, Acehnese fighters have been more interested in turning their arms against the central government than on any outside force.
Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Two human rights activists said on Sunday that the implementation of Shariah law in Aceh was unfair and discriminatory, as it only applied to the common people, while government officials and wealthy people were never sentenced to public lashings.
Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Women's tight trousers and men's short pants have become the focus of Aceh's Shariah Police, who have intensified their patrols to get the shameful articles of clothing off the streets.
Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – A signboard on Jl. Mister Muhammad Hasan, the main access to provincial capital Banda Aceh, reads: "Welcome to Banda Aceh, Indonesia's Islamic tourism destination." As a place blessed with natural beauty, tourism is one of our main assets to improve our economy," said Banda Aceh vice Mayor Illiza Saadudin.
Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Students in the West Aceh capital of Meulaboh have ended a five-day hunger strike to demand housing for survivors of the 2004 tsunami after several of the strikers grew dangerously weak.
Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Zulkifli Zainon, the mayor of Langsa city in Aceh, officially dismissed the chief of the local Shariah Police, Syahril, on Wednesday over allegations that three of his officers gang-raped a 20-year-old university student.
Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Growing up, Faisal was not really aware that he had a different sexual orientation from his friends, but as an adult he is very conscious of his sexuality and the discrimination he suffers as a result.
Faisal lives in Aceh, the only province in Indonesia that has Islamic sharia law.
Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – A group of sharia police personnel unusually just sit in the back of a pick-up patrol vehicle while making the rounds in downtown Banda Aceh, Aceh province, on Monday.
No raid is conducted that day at beauty salons or other public places considered prone to sharia (Islamic law) violations. No stern actions are taken or arrests made that day.
Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Aceh's deputy governor said on Tuesday that there was no need to disband the province's Wilayatul Hisbah, or Shariah Police, because there was no legal obligation to do so.
Karima Anjani and John M. Glionna, Tokyo and Jakarta – Three members of a civilian patrol that enforces Islam's strict Sharia law in Indonesia's Aceh province have been accused of gang-raping a 20-year-old university student, authorities there said.
Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – - Shariah Police officers who are suspects in Friday's alleged gang rape of a 20-year-old university student may find some respite from knowing they will be charged under the Criminal Code and not the province's Islamic law.
Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Having gang-raped and tortured a female student at the Langsa Shariah Police station in Aceh, the three officers responsible have forever blackened the name of the religious police as upholders of Islamic law, Aceh's Shariah Police deputy commander said on Wednesday.
Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – A serious blow to the credibility and morality of sharia police in Aceh province, has occurred after several members were detained for an alleged gang rape in Langsa regency.
Hundreds of tsunami refugees in Aceh province held a rally in front of West Aceh's Regional Representative Council Building on Monday to demand homes that they said the government had promised them.
A female demonstrator named Suriati collapsed during the rally and had to be rushed to the hospital. Suriati was six months pregnant and in a weak condition.
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Here's a provocative thought: if it weren't for the 2004 tsunami, Western aid workers in Banda Aceh city would not be the target of politically motivated drive-by shootings, and women in West Aceh regency would be free to wear trousers.
Jerome Rivet, Banda Aceh – She wears a helmet and drives her scooter slowly through the capital of Indonesia's Aceh province, but Yuli is still stopped by the sharia police. Her crime: wearing tight jeans and a blouse deemed "un-Islamic".
On Boxing Day 2004, a tsunami killed more than 220,000 people. Five years on, Tim Hume returns to Indonesia and witnesses a remarkable recovery.
Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Today, the people of Aceh commemorate the most tragic day in our history with prayers, memories and visits to the mass graves that hold the unidentified remains of thousands of our loved ones, neighbors and friends.
Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Aceh's Religious Affairs Office has moved to distance itself from its controversial decision to prevent the barongsai, or Chinese lion dance, from being performed during commemorations for the 2004 tsunami by the Chinese Buddhist community in Banda Aceh last Sunday.
Nurdin Hasan, Anita Rachman & Putri Prameshwari, Banda Aceh – Religious officials in Aceh have sparked yet another controversy, this time banning the barongsai, or traditional Chinese lion dance, from a cultural performance as part of commemorations leading up to the fifth anniversary of the 2004 tsunami that devastated the province.
Lampuk (Indonesia) – Ikra Alfila has rediscovered the joy of play, but the little 10-year-old still has nightmares about giant waves five years after the tsunami that killed everyone in her family except her father.
Teuku Dani Ramadhan, Zahara Sulaiman & Ade Mardiyati – In Pasar Rakyat, a market in Meulaboh in Indonesia's West Aceh, a young woman busily browses through a rack of skirts.
She is wearing a loose, long skirt, a tight, long-sleeved T-shirt and a jilbab that comes up to her chest. She analyzes the material of the skirts, touching them to feel the texture.
Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Activists in Aceh on Friday criticized the lack of civil involvement in the autonomous region when they met with Martti Ahtisaari, the diplomat who brokered the 2005 peace agreement between the Free Aceh Movement and the central government.