Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday apologized for the manhandling of a Nigerian diplomat, Abdulrrahman Ibrahim and announced it had inaugurated a formal investigation of the incident.
According to Daily Mail, the spokesperson for the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, Teuku Faizasyah informed journalists that there had been multiple meetings with Nigerian officials since the incident, including discussions with the ambassador in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Nigeria earlier this week recalled its ambassador to Indonesia and summoned Indonesia’s ambassador in Abuja for talks after a leaked video of Saturday’s incident went viral on social media and provoked outrage.
The video shows three Indonesian immigration officials restraining the diplomat in the back seat of a moving vehicle. One immigration official holds the diplomat’s arm and another pushes on his head as the man screams “I can’t breathe” and “my neck, my neck.”
Reacting, Faizasyah said, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs regrets the incident on August 7th. This is an isolated incident, and is in no way related to the commitment of the Indonesian government in carrying out its obligations as host country or in accordance with the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations.”
He said that the incident had been probed by the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, which supervises immigration authorities, but did not disclose any details of the results and did not take any questions.
Nigeria on Tuesday issued a statement expressing “outrage” over the incident, saying the government “condemns in the strongest terms what is, in effect, an egregious act of international delinquency.”
The Nigerian Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the Indonesian ambassador to “protest strongly,” and had recalled its ambassador to Indonesia for consultations, “including a review of bilateral relations.”
It was not clear whether Ambassador Usman Ogah ever left Indonesia, however, as the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said he was present in person for the talks in Jakarta on Wednesday.
According to Indonesian authorities, the envoy was picked up by immigration officers after they received a tip about a group of foreign nationals whose residence permits had expired.
The Daily Mail reported that the diplomat was unhelpful and refused to turn over his documents when confronted in the lobby of an apartment building, so was taken into custody, according to Ibnu Chuldun, the head of the Jakarta branch of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, which handles immigration issues.
In the car, the man was held down after he attacked immigration officials, Chuldun alleged in a statement following the incident.
Only after being questioned at the local immigration office did the man say he was a diplomat and produce his identity documents, he said.
Chuldun said the incident was settled “amicably” the same day after the Nigerian ambassador personally came to the immigration office to intervene.
“Both parties acknowledged that there had been a misunderstanding and agreed to make peace,” Chuldun said.
The diplomatic moves from Nigeria that followed, however, suggest that the matter was not entirely resolved.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Usra Harahap, has revealed that assaulted Nigerian diplomat, Abdulrrahman Ibrahim, was the first aggressor during his encounter with Indonesian immigration officers.
Gistlover had reported how Ibrahim was on Saturday arrested and tortured by the Indonesian police after he went out to shop at a supermarket.
The Indonesian police officers reportedly did not listen to his plea and he was forced inside a vehicle where he was beaten.
He reportedly started to suffocate as a result of the assault.
However, the Indonesian government also defended the assault Ibrahim was subjected to, as Harahap claimed the Nigerian diplomat first elbowed an immigration official till the latter started to bleed.
On Monday, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama summoned Harahap over the assault of the Nigerian diplomat in Jakarta.
