Police arrested 13 men at an apartment in Jakarta after 50 members of the extremist Islam Defenders Front broke in amid suspicions that a “sex party” was taking place.
Despite no strong evidence that the men had committed any crime, around 50 members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) barged into an apartment in the Kalibata City apartment complex and forced the police to arrest the 13 men.
Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono said Sunday the incident began after a circulated message about the alleged sex party was received by an FPI member. The member went to the unit and found a group of men not wearing any shirts before making a report to the Pancoran Police.
Escorted by the police and apartment security personnel, the mob entered the apartment and police officers took the men into custody.
However, Raden said the police were still investigating whether the men had committed any crime, saying that the only items that were confiscated during the raid were smartphones, condoms, and antiretroviral drugs for HIV patients.
Human rights groups are disturbed, Reuters reports:
Our Voice, a group supporting gay rights, said police should have detained the members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) for breach of privacy.
“For a government agency to allow such thing to happen, it is terrifying. It is a warning for this nation,” said Hartoyo, a director of Our Voice.
The FPI, which is also known for raiding bars and nightclubs, as well as helping prevent pop star Lady Gaga perform in the country, has vowed to continue such actions.
“The FPI since its birth has been and in the future will continue to fight to uphold what is good and to ban what is bad for society at all costs,” Novel Bamukmin, the group's Jakarta secretary general, said.
