JAKARTA, 4 July 2003 — Accusations that Indonesia is muzzling freedom of expression and foreign media access in war-torn Aceh mounted as the death toll from a fresh government offensive to crush rebels topped 350 yesterday.

The US government said a five-year jail term given to a leading activist in Aceh on Tuesday was harsh and heightened the “apparent intimidation” of those trying to monitor rights abuses.

Muhammad Nazar, 30, was convicted of spreading hatred against the state over speeches he made early this year that called for a referendum on self-rule.

Indonesia’s recently imposed curbs on foreign media reporting of the war drew condemnation from the International Federation of Journalists, a global organization of reporters, which called them a “blatant violation” of press freedom.

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Washington was deeply concerned over Nazar’s verdict, which he called the latest on Indonesians expressing anti-government views. Some protesters have received short jail terms elsewhere in Indonesia recently for insulting the president and her deputy. “We regret that the Banda Aceh court handed down such a harsh sentence against Mr. Nazar for exercising his right to peaceful political activity,” Boucher said in a statement.

The military reignited the decades-long Aceh war on May 19 after peace talks with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) collapsed.

Yesterday, the military said it had killed 325 rebels and lost 32 soldiers and police since then, with refugees at 48,000, up from previous estimates of 40,000. GAM has said hundreds of government troops and scores of civilians have been killed.

Indonesia’s armed forces chief asserted on Wednesday that the military had full control of Aceh, the official Antara news agency said. However, he said this did not mean operations would end before the six-month target deadline or that security in Indonesia’s northernmost province could be guaranteed.

The court in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, found Nazar, guilty of spreading hatred toward the government. He had been sentenced to 10 months in jail in 2001 for similar offences. Other rights activists have said they have been warned by the authorities about speaking out during the offensive.

Curbs placed on the foreign media include confinement to key towns unless they are accompanied by soldiers or police. That also applies to Indonesians working for foreign media.