Jakarta – The Aceh provincial administration is to introduce caning as punishment in the upcoming fasting month Ramadhan for Muslims who do not carry out their religious obligations.

Aceh Ulema Consultative Assembly (MPU) chairman Muslim Ibrahim said on Saturday that caning would be meted out on Muslims in Aceh who took lunch during the fasting month.

Jakarta – Indonesian troops have shot dead six suspected rebels in Aceh a day after the government said it was ready to sign a truce with the province's separatist movement.

Apriadi Gunawan and Haidir Anwar Tanjung, Medan/Pekanbaru – A joint police-military team from Asahan, North Sumatra, killed two suspected rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and arrested four others in the waters off Asahan on Friday.

Banda Aceh – Some ten unidentified gunmen shot dead a middle-aged couple identified as Hasan Basri, 50, and his wife Rosmawati, 45, at their home in the Idi Rayeuk area of East Aceh district on Tuesday, the provincial military spokesman Major Zaenal Mutaqin confirmed here on Thursday.

Nani Farida, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Governor Abdullah Puteh said on Wednesday that the recommencement of a dialog between the government and the Free Aceh Movement would take place in Geneva on October 31 or November 1, with the Henry Dunant Center (HDC) mediating the peace talks.

Five more people including two soldiers and a separatist rebel have been killed in the Indonesian province of Aceh, the military and residents said.

Prosecutors are meanwhile studying police reports on two foreign women who have been detained in Aceh since September 11 to decide whether to charge them with visa violations, said Zainal Said of the Aceh prosecutor's office.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – A visiting director of the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Center (HDC), a mediator of peace talks between the Indonesian government and the secessionist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), criticized the government's decision to set a deadline for a dialog with the movement.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Volunteers with the Indonesian Red Cross in Aceh have evacuated six casualties bearing gunshot wounds, including one state official, from four different locations in the strife-torn province, graphic evidence that violence is still rampant.

Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta – Two Acehnese who participated in a hunger strike for three days at the provincial legislature here were rushed to the hospital on Tuesday with digestive disorders.

Medan – Dozens of Acehnese refugees living in temporary shelters in Medan, Deli Serdang, and Langkat, launched a hunger strike in front of the North Sumatra Legislative Council on Monday to demand the disbursement of Rp 100.5 billion in government funds.

Nani Farida and Kurniawan Hari, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – Acehnese figures welcomed on Monday a proposal to allow the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to participate in elections, saying it would bolster efforts for a peaceful and fair solution to problems in the province.

Kanis Dursin, Tamiang, East Aceh – It was only 7 a.m., but hundreds of students had already gathered on the Tamiang Islamic University campus, a two-hectare compound from where King Tengku Arifin ruled in the 19th century.

Banda Aceh – The deputy chairman of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI-P) Aceh chapter was killed after separatist rebels sprayed his car with bullets, military officials said.

Banda Aceh – The Banda Aceh Legal Aid Institute has expressed regret over a statement made by Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen Endriartono Sutarto, in which he accused an Acehnese of being behind the recent clash between the army and police in Binjai, North Sumatra.

Banda Aceh – Two policemen and a soldier have been killed by separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province, police have confirmed here on Friday.

Banda Aceh – Indonesian police said on Friday they shot and killed a separatist commander in restive Aceh province but denied rebel allegations he'd been tortured to death.

Banda Aceh – A territorial commander of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), identified as Abu Arafah, alias Ibrahim, 33, was shot dead at an isolated village in Aceh province, Aceh Police spokesman Taufik Sutiyono said here on Thursday.

The authorities in Indonesia's Aceh province have ruled out pursuing espionage charges against a Scottish woman detained for the past month, the prosecutor handling their case said.

"According to the chief, if we focus on spying it will be difficult to prove in court later," prosecutor Zainal Said told AFP Thursday.

Banda Aceh – Two soldiers and one teacher were killed in the latest round of violence in Aceh, provincial military spokesman Maj. Zaenal Mutaqin said here on Tuesday.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Aceh police detectives are questioning 20 colleagues from the elite Mobile Brigade (Brimob) for their alleged role in an arson attack on 80 shophouses in Keude Seuneddon, North Aceh, some 57 kilometers east of Lhokseumawe, last month.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The inclusion of foreigners in the planned monitoring commission to ensure peace in the war-torn province of Aceh will be discussed in the coming peace talks between the government and Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Thousands of the have-nots staged a peaceful rally in front of the Aceh provincial legislature building on Monday, demanding the administration disburse billions of rupiah of public funds to alleviate poverty in the resources-rich province.

At least three people, including a woman and her grandson, were killed in the latest violence in the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh, witnesses and the military said.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – New lawyers representing two foreigners suspected of violating immigration law in war-torn Aceh called on the local police and the prosecutor's office to be cautious in charging their clients.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Maps showing the location of military forces in Indonesia's Aceh province in the possession of a former University of Tasmania lecturer and her American colleague prove the women are guilty of espionage, the prosecutor's office says.

Nani Farida and Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – The separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) insisted on Tuesday that the government must set up an international monitoring committee to supervise the implementation of a cease-fire between the government and GAM, but Jakarta commentators said they hoped the committee would consist of credible local people.

James Balowski – On September 25, two leaders of the Acehnese civil rights movement – Muhammad Nasir Azis and Kautsar bin Muhammad Yus – who were abducted on September 22 by the Indonesian military (TNI) in the northern Acehnese city of Lhokseumawe were released following a concerted campaign by Acehnese human right organisations against their detention.

Iggy Kim – A show trial is looming for Australian academic Lesley McCulloch, detained by the Indonesian military in Aceh, along with US nurse Joy-Lee Sadler. Both have been charged with alleged visa violations.

[This letter was received from Lesley McCulloch via an email from the Acehnese human rights activists working for her release from Indonesian custody. It was written on September 27.]

A lobby group in Darwin, Australia, claims Indonesian authorities are persecuting and intimidating civil democratic groups in the province of Aceh.

The group Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor held a protest in Darwin's Raintree Park today to highlight the issue.

Banda Aceh – A female student was shot dead and a soldier was wounded in the latest violence to hit the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh, the military and residents said on Sunday.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – The dossiers of British academic Lesley McCulloch and American nurse Joy Lee Sadler will be submitted to the Banda Aceh district prosecution office on Monday, one of their lawyers has said.

"The questioning of Lesley and Joy Lee was already completed several days ago," lawyer Afridal Darmi told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Jakarta – In line with sharia law, the Aceh legislative council is proposing that caning be one of the punishments for people who tempt Muslims to desert religious teachings.

A special team set up by the council is drafting the bylaw in response to Law No. 44/1999 on Aceh's special status and Law No. 18/2002 on special autonomy for Aceh.

A former Australian University lecturer who is being held by police in the Indonesian province of Aceh is reportedly sick and in need of medical attention.

The head of political and international studies at Deakin University in Melbourne, Damien Kingsbury, says he contacted Lesley McCulloch last night and is concerned for her well-being.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Two home-made bombs exploded near the airport hours before President Megawati Sukarnoputri's lightning visit to Aceh yesterday, adding urgency to her pledge to restore security to the province.

[This article was distributed on September 25 on an online discussion list of academics focusing on Indonesia and appears here via the Joyo Indonesia News Service.]

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – A fortnight after the former University of Tasmania lecturer Lesley McCulloch and a friend were picked up by police in Indonesia's Aceh province, two things look increasingly likely: Ms McCulloch will be sentenced to jail and travel for Westerners to Aceh will become more restricted.

Detained British academic Lesley McCulloch and American Joy Lee Sadler are "private intelligence" agents determined to see Aceh split from Indonesia, Jakarta intelligence sources say.

The pair were detained September 10 emerging from what authorities say is a known concentration of support for the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Tapak Tuan regency, South Aceh.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Lesley McCulloch, a former University of Tasmania lecturer, will wake up today on a mattress on the floor of a windowless office in Banda Aceh police station at the start of her 12th day in captivity.

John Aglionby, Jakarta – A British academic and her American friend detained in Indonesia 12 days ago for allegedly researching the separatist conflict in Aceh province while on tourist visas have accused their police interrogators of falsifying their statements, their lawyer said yesterday.

Ibnu Mat Noor and Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Two foreign women who are being detained for suspected involvement in separatist activities while on tourist visas, will likely stand trial in the Banda Aceh District Court on charges of immigration violations.

Jakarta – At least 70 young people coming from across Aceh province gathered in Banda Aceh on Wednesday to seek a common understanding on government policy and a peaceful solution to the conflict in Aceh.

[An Australian academic who's still being questioned by Indonesian police in the northern province of Aceh has spoken to the ABC from the bathroom of the police station. Scottish-born Australian resident Lesley McCulloch who lectured at the Universtiy of Tasmania was detained with an American nurse and a local translator last week in Southern Aceh.

Nani Farida and Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Dozens of people were injured and more than 80 shophouses burned in the latest outbreak of violence in Aceh.

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman for the Pasee region, Teungku Jamaika, said government security forces, particularly the elite Mobile Brigade (Brimob) police unit, were responsible.

Jakarta – The British embassy in Indonesia is very concerned over complaints that police have mistreated a British woman detained since last week in restive Aceh province, a diplomat said on Wednesday.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – A Scottish academic detained for a week by police in Indonesia's Aceh province said yesterday she had been beaten, deprived of sleep and threatened with a knife during her captivity.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has reminded the government of its unfinished investigations into a number of alleged crimes against humanity involving the state in Aceh.

Banda Aceh – Two personnel of the Police Mobile Brigade were killed in a firefight with rebels in Seunuddon, North Aceh, some 300 kilometers east of Banda Aceh on Saturday, according to reliable sources. The bodies of the two policemen who have yet to be identified were taken to the Military Hospital in Lhokseumawe, hours after the firefight.

Banda Aceh – A woman teacher was executed in war-torn Aceh on Thursday, adding to the growing list of more than 50 teachers killed since 1998.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Two unidentified gunmen in Aceh ignored the cries by a schoolboy for his mother's life on Thursday morning, shooting her in the head before stealing her motorcycle, local residents said.