Indonesia’s decision to deport a Palestinian activist is a moral failure

On July 16, Indonesian authorities arrested a Palestinian activist named Abdul Karim Raed Miqdad. By the next morning he was on a plane to Cyprus. Human rights monitors now warn he could end up in Israeli custody.

Indonesia can probably point to paperwork that justifies each step along the way. None of it amounts to a moral defense. If Mr. Miqdad ends up in Israeli hands, Jakarta will have handed over a man who spent his life protesting Israeli policy to the very state that policy serves.

Indonesia usually presents itself as the largest Muslim-majority democracy on earth, a longtime supporter of the Palestinian cause, a country whose constitution rejects colonialism “in any form whatsoever.” That image took a hit this week.

Here is how the case unfolded. Mr. Miqdad was detained at the request of Interpol’s National Central Bureau in Nicosia, based on a Cyprus-issued Red Notice citing vague “terrorism-related offenses.” He was deported the next morning, before his family could really reach him and before a lawyer had much chance to help him. The Geneva Council for Rights and Liberties, which has tracked the case, says no one has explained what he is accused of, what evidence exists, or why a Red Notice alone was treated as enough to skip a proper legal review.

That claim tracks with something bigger. Over the past two years, several governments aligned with Israel have used immigration systems and international watchlists to go after pro-Palestinian activists, journalists, and aid workers. A government that calls itself a defender of Palestinian rights had reason to view this request with suspicion. Instead it moved fast and asked little.

There’s a legal problem underneath the political one. The principle of non-refoulement bars countries from sending someone to a place where they face a real risk of torture or persecution. Indonesia is bound by it under treaties it has signed, including the Convention Against Torture. Sending Mr. Miqdad to Cyprus looks, on paper, like an ordinary transfer between two countries. If it ends up being a step toward Israel, it will have worked as a forced return in every way that matters, whatever it gets called on paper.

The whole episode sits awkwardly next to Indonesia’s own recent statements. Its foreign ministry has spoken forcefully on Gaza over the past 21 months. President Prabowo Subianto has personally offered to bring wounded Palestinian children to Indonesia for treatment.

Words came easily. This is what happened when something was actually asked of the government behind them.

Some things can still be done. Indonesian officials can press Cypriot and Interpol authorities to disclose the evidence behind the Red Notice. They can seek real guarantees that Mr. Miqdad won’t be sent on to Israel. They can call for an independent review of his case in Cyprus. And they owe an explanation to their own citizens, many of whom have marched for Gaza, for how a government that claims solidarity with Palestinians ended up removing one so fast.

Indonesia had a choice here. It made the wrong one. A moral failure doesn’t always look like a broken law. Sometimes it just looks like a government that decided not to look too closely.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.