A Nigerian man died at the Immigration Office’s West Jakarta Detention Center on Tuesday, with officials suspecting that he passed away from a heart attack after a chaotic incident at the center.
According to an official at the center, KC, 35, along with several other Nigerian detainees, resisted when they were being moved between cells on Tuesday afternoon.
“The cell transfer descended into chaos, so officers halted the process and eventually used persuasive means on the detainees to move them,” Immigration Directorate General Spokesman Arya Pradhana Anggakara told reporters today.
“After they were moved, officers found that detainee [KC] looked exhausted, and he was taken to a nearby hospital.”
KC was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. Post-mortem officials have yet to declare a cause of death.
Arya said KC’s wife, an Indonesian national, told officials that her husband had a history of hypertension and heart problems, which likely triggered a heart attack amid Tuesday’s chaos. KC’s medical history was also submitted to the detention center when he was admitted in August.
Officials have not disclosed whether or not KC had committed other violations than breaching the terms on his stay permit, as is the case with most detentions at Immigration-run centers.
Arya said Nigeria’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Usman Ari Ogah, is scheduled to meet with Immigration officials to discuss the detention of Nigerian citizens in Indonesia.
Nigerian citizens without valid stay permits have long been the target of arrests by Immigration officials, prompting, fairly or otherwise, accusations of systemic racism against the foreigners. Tensions between the two nations escalated in August when a Nigerian diplomat was allegedly assaulted by Immigration officers, with Nigeria calling the incident “an egregious act of international delinquency by the Indonesian state.”
