The Directorate General of Immigration at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights has won the pretrial case filed by a man with an initial MHAB.
The legal case of the suspected foreigner with an initial MHAB began when he applied for a passport at the Class I Non-Immigration Checkpoint of the Pemalang Immigration Office. During the in-depth profiling process, the immigration officers suspected that MHAB might not be an Indonesian citizen. Afterwards, MHAB was detained by the immigration office for further examination.
MHAB, as a response, filed a lawsuit regarding his detainment by the immigration office to the State Administrative Court. However, all of MHAB’s claims up to the cassation stage were rejected. The suspected foreigner was later transferred to the Directorate General of Immigration for a pre-investigation process.
The pretrial hearing process took place from Monday, 22nd January to Tuesday, 30th January 2024, at the South Jakarta District Court. At the first hearing on 22nd January, the main agenda was the submission of the Special Power of Attorney and Response from the Respondent, attended by the Petitioner’s attorney (the Petitioner here being MHAB) and the Respondent’s Special Power of Attorney team (the Respondent here being the Directorate General of Immigration).
On the following Tuesday (23rd January), a follow-up hearing was held with the agenda of submitting a List of Evidence along with attachments between the Petitioner and the Respondent. The trial process continued on Wednesday (24th January), with the examination of witnesses from the Petitioner’s side which involved MHAB’s father’s brother-in-law, his cousin and his father’s friend.
On Thursday (25th January), it was the Respondent’s turn to examine witnesses which involved investigators and experts from the Directorate of Immigration Supervision and Enforcement (Ditwasdakim). The trial continued on Friday (26th January), with the agenda of submitting the conclusions between the Petitioner and the Respondent.
The results of the series of trials were announced on Tuesday, 30th January. The South Jakarta District Court decided to completely reject the pretrial petition submitted by MHAB and accepted all the answers and conclusions submitted by the Directorate of Immigration Supervision and Enforcement.
“In general, MHAB filed a pretrial lawsuit to have him removed from suspect status. However, the court decided that the lawsuit was rejected,” said Director of Immigration Supervision and Enforcement, Saffar Muhammad Godam.
Godam also assessed the integrity of the immigration officers in handling the case, which was proven by the court’s decision, as a matter of pride and achievement.