Agence France Presse
December 31, 2003

An Indonesian court on Wednesday sentenced three Aceh separatist rebels to between six and seven years in prison for treason.

The three -- M. Jamil, Said Umar, and Tengku Mukhtar -- are local leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Bengkulu province on Sumatra island.

"The defendants have been found guilty of committing the criminal act of treason," chief judge Andi Karim said at the court in Bengkulu.

Jamil was sentenced to seven years in prison while Umar and Mukhtar were jailed for six years each. The judge's comments, carried by ElShinta radio, did not specify what the three had been doing in Bengkulu.

GAM has been fighting for independence for Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra since 1976.

Courts have jailed scores of GAM members and sympathizers since the government placed Aceh under martial law on May 19 and launched an all-out military offensive to crush the separatist movement.

In October an Aceh court sentenced five former rebel negotiators to between 12 and 15 years for treason and terrorism.

The military says 2,000 suspected rebels have been arrested or surrendered during the campaign and some 1,200 have been killed.