On May 3, an Indonesian court found the national airline Garuda Indonesia guilty of negligence over the death of a leading rights activist on one of its flights.

The court ordered Garuda Indonesia to pay US$73,800 in damages to the widow of activist Munir Said Thalib for failing to take adequate action as he neared death from arsenic poisoning during the 2004 flight.

Garuda Indonesia has been at the centre of a storm over Munir's murder amid allegations of a cover-up in the original police investigation, and links to Indonesia's powerful intelligence agency BIN.

The verdict disappointed widow Suciwati and rights groups, who filed the civil case on her behalf, seeking US$1.4 million in damages and a public apology from the airline.

"The court should have accepted our request for an audit and for Garuda Indonesia to apologise to the public," Suciwati said outside the Jakarta court. "But whatever amount they give us can never replace Munir."

The Indonesian Government has come under intense pressure to act over the case after Garuda Indonesia pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto, charged with carrying out the poisoning, had his conviction quashed late last year by the Supreme Court.

Police have reopened their investigation, raising hopes among rights groups that BIN officers will be arrested.

Munir made powerful enemies through his work during and after the rule of dictator Suharto, which ended in 1998, exposing rights abuses including in Papua and East Timor.

He was poisoned during a stopover in Singapore and died about two hours before the plane landed in Amsterdam.