TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Ministry of Environment and Forestry expressed satisfaction with the verdict of Batam District Court against Mahmoud Mohamed Abdelaziz Mohamed Hatiba (43 years old), an Egyptian citizen. He was the captain of the Iranian-flagged tanker MT ARMAN 114 and was arrested on charges of polluting the North Natuna Sea last year.

In its Wednesday decision on July 10, the panel of judges headed by Saptari Tarigan sentenced the captain to 7 years in prison and an Rp5 billion fine subsidiary to 6 months imprisonment. Abdelaziz was declared beyond unreasonable doubt to have violated Article 69 (1) (a) in conjunction to Article 98 (1) of Law Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management.

Following the prosecutor's demands, the judge also seized the vessel and 166,975.36 metric tons of light crude oil.

In his statement, the Director General of Environmental and Forestry Law Enforcement, Rasio Ridho Sani, said the verdict serves as a lesson for perpetrators of environmental crimes, especially marine pollution in Indonesian territory.

"We must take firm action against foreign vessels that transform Indonesian seas into dumping grounds. These criminals must be punished harshly to deter them,” said Rasio in a written statement received by Tempo on Monday, July 15, 2024.

The Iranian-Flagged Tanker Pollution Case

The Director of Criminal Law Enforcement at the Environment Ministry, Yazid Nurhuda, explained that the case started after Patrol Officer KN Marore 322 detected two vessels suspected of carrying out illegal ship-to-ship oil transfer.

Indonesian authorities found that the Iranian-flagged vessel ARMAN 114 was connected to another vessel, S Tinos, and some oil spill was observed. With assistance from the Malaysian Coast Guard, authorities inspected ARMAN 114 and brought it to Batam waters for further probing.

The Indonesian Maritime Security Agency also took some samples of oil-contaminated seawater in the North Notuna Sea. After thorough tests, it was determined that the pollution was caused by ARMAN 114’s oil spill.

"On July 11, 2023, the Maritime Security Agency delegated this case to the ministry for further investigation," said Yazid in the same written statement as Ratio.

IRSYAN HASYIM

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