Indonesian detention boss rejects claims

The head of an Australia-funded Indonesian detention centre has angrily rejected
claims his guards use stun guns to subdue detainees.
Sugiyo, the head of the Tanjung Pinang Immigration Detention Centre on the
Indonesian island of Bintan, says the allegations are rubbish.
"It's not true," Sugiyo told AAP.
"We do have small stun guns but they have never been used.
"No one has been electrocuted here."
Afghan asylum seekers housed in the facility have claimed officials use the stun
guns and deny them medical assistance, as well as making threats to kill, according
to a story aired on ABC's Lateline.
It is not the first time detainees at the facility have alleged abuse. Afghan
detainees claimed last year guards had beaten them.
But Sri Lankan detainees agree the latest allegations are untrue.
"They have electric guns but they have never used them," a Tamil who has been in the
facility for several months told AAP on condition of anonymity.
Guards have punched Afghan detainees but have not been violent towards Tamils, the
detainee said.
Sugiyo said the detainees who made the allegations were trying to create controversy
to speed up the processing of their refugee claims.
But Greens leader Bob Brown called the allegations "very disturbing".
"If Australian money is going into detention centres then it needs to be
humanitarian," he told reporters in Canberra.
"The use of Tasers and treatment of asylum seekers as if they're criminals is just
not on."
Independent senator Nick Xenophon said the abuse claims were further reason all
processing should occur on Australian soil.
Australia funded a multi-million dollar refurbishment of the facility last year.
The centre was used to house the 78 Tamils from Australia's Oceanic Viking after a
month-long stand-off late last year.
It also now houses more than 100 Tamils who were involved in a separate six-month
stand-off with Indonesian authorities at a Javan port.