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Body scanners will continue to be used in the nation’s airports despite their condemnation by the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) as a violation of Shariah and human rights, an airport chief said on Tuesday.

Edward Silloy, chief of Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, said the body scanner was the last step in security checks of a person going into or out of the country.

“If a person is carrying a bomb in his underwear, for example, it will not be detected by an X-ray scanner,” he said, “but a body scanner will see it.”

MUI chairman Amidhan has said the use of full-body scanners in airports is a violation of human rights and Islamic law, or Shariah.

“Don’t use it in Indonesia. We are not a paranoid or frightened country,” Amidhan said. “What we are afraid of is the scanner violating human rights and being used as a toy to abuse women.”

The council agreed with Pope Benedict XVI’s objections to full-body scanners.

“It violates human rights. If only the bones are visible then it’s all right, but if it’s the body, then it could become a toy,” Amidhan said.

In a speech to 1,200 airport workers at the Vatican on Monday, Pope Benedict reportedly said “it is above all essential to protect and value the human person in their integrity,” in reference to the use of the equipment, although he did not use the term “body scanner.”

Amidhan said there could be one exception: “It can only be used in emergency situations regarding national security, and women should scan women and men scan men.”

However, Edward said national security was the No. 1 priority.

“Of course, women are scanned by women and men are scanned by men,” he added.

Amidhan said he believed Indonesia was not in an emergency situation at the moment and that airport security staff could make use of other tools.

“As long as other equipment is available, it’s not an emergency,” he said.

The government uses US-made ProVision scanners at the Jakarta and Bali airports for passengers heading to the United States or Europe. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said the scanner does not show a person’s “sensitive parts.”