October 22, 2025 | 02:33 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government has disclosed the current condition of Reynhard Sinaga, the convicted serial rapist serving his sentence in the United Kingdom. British police estimate that Reynhard may have assaulted as many as 206 men.
Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Yusril Ihza Mahendra said the government has not taken any steps to seek Reynhard’s repatriation.
“Until today, there has been no repatriation request,” Yusril said on Tuesday, October 21, 2025.
The issue of repatriating Reynhard resurfaced following the government’s approval of requests to return two British prisoners, Lindsay June Sandiford and Shahab Shahabadi, to the UK.
Yusril clarified that the transfer of the two British nationals was done through a prisoner transfer mechanism, not a prisoner exchange. As such, the UK is not obligated to send back Indonesian inmates in return.
“However, this transfer can be seen as reciprocal. If there are Indonesians imprisoned in the UK, we could also request their return to Indonesia,” he said.
Earlier, in February 2025, the Indonesian government had considered the possibility of repatriating Reynhard at the request of his family.
“The request from his family was like that, and we are still reviewing it,” Yusril said in a video statement received by Tempo on February 7, 2025.
He emphasized that the government cannot neglect its responsibility toward Indonesian citizens incarcerated abroad.
“Whether there are British prisoners here who will also be returned is still under consideration,” said the former Crescent Star Party chairman.
More recently, however, Yusril stated that Reynhard’s repatriation is not a government priority, noting that current efforts are focused on assisting Indonesian citizens facing legal cases in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
“We are dealing with many similar cases there,” Yusril said on February 11, 2025.
Reynhard Sinaga, now 41 years old, was convicted by a Manchester court in January 2020 and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 40 years. He was found guilty of 159 sexual assaults against 48 different men, and British police believe there could be over 200 victims in total.
Adil Al Hasan and Alfitria Nefi P contributed to the writing of this article.
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