Tag: criminalization of peaceful dissent

Security measures escalate in Papua

Bintang Papua, 20 August 2011

KNPB, the National Committee for West Papua, is scheduled to announce
the results of the meeting organised by ILWP, International Lawyers for
West Papua in Oxford, at 9am this morning , at the tomb of Theys Hiyo
Eluay.

Bintang Papua also reported that Major-General Erfi Triassumu, commander
of the XXVII/Cendrawasih Military Command, said he has not yet had any
reports about the results of the ILWP meeting in Oxford, but said that
the ILWP event has triggered events affecting the security situation,
especially in Papua.

In a meeting with the press, he said that promises made by various
groups were causing confusion among the population. It was not only
because of the armed activities of civilian groups that had occurred
before and after the ILWP meeting. The security situation had indeed
intensified throughout Papua recently, which had happened both before
and after the ILWP meeting.

Other factors were the election of the governor of Papua as well as the
special autonomy law – OTSUS. People were hoping that OTSUS funds would
be evenly distributed among the communities, although some of the funds
could not yet be released.

He said that he along with the police chief in Papua had together
committed to doing what they could to restore a conducive situation in
Papua.

Meanwhile, the district chief of Puncak Jaya, Lukas Emenbe. called on
everyone whatever their differing opinions to hold a dialogue in order
to agree on peaceful solutions. ‘ All these problems can be resolved,’
he said, ‘as long as we publicly express our opinions.’

The military commander, asked whether there would be an increase in the
number of troops in preparation for the forthcoming Idul Fitri [the last
two days of Ramadan] said that organic troops may carry out routine
movements because the Korem under Battalion 751 in Sentani does not
have special units available for security purposes.

Asked about the manoeuvres by armed groups which had been involved in
fighting in urban areas such as in Nafri, he said because of the current
civil emergency status, the police would be in the front line together
with the local government, because the govrnor, the district chief and
the city mayor are the ones who are responsible for security.’

‘I will assist if there is a request from the police for additional
personnel to help the police,’ he said.

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Indon military open fire on vehicles carrying KNPB activists, arrests ahead of Aug 20 gathering

from Westpapuamedia.info and Local Sources

Indonesian Police and Army from a joint taskforce opened fire on a car of West Papua independence activists in Abepura, West Papua, on August 18, after arresting three other activists from the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) for distributing pamphlet in support of demonstrations planned for August 20.

The shooting occurred when KNPB (Komite Nasional Papua Barat) members attended the Jayapura police headquarters to check on the welfare of detainee Octovianus Mayor.   Mayor was arrested by members of the joint TNI/POLRI taskforce at 1000am local time at Expo Waena, for distributing pamphlets for a planned announcement on August 20 of resolutions from the Oxford ILWP “Road to Freedom” conference, at the grave of the late Theys Hiyo Eluay in Sentani.  Mayor is the Secretary General of the Timika Region KNPB.

Colleagues of Mayor went by car to Abepura police station upon hearing of his arrest to ensure his safety.  Demi Asso, Soni Kosa and several friends asked police guarding a post at Abepura of the whereabouts of their friend, whose location was given by police at District Police Jayapura.   After they left the  police station and drove towards PolRes Jayapura.   According to witnesses, police followed the activists from the police station, and began to shoot at their car, a black Avansa.

Police quickly pursued the KNPB activists vehicle, which was fired on by police officer Bripka Numberi at 12.000 midday, at Abepura circle, Jayapura, Papua.

Bripka Numberi allegedly fired indiscriminately in pursuit of the vehicle,shooting 10 rounds into the rear of the car, 4 rounds through the windscreen, 6 rounds into the rear bumper and 1 round in the wheel, causing the Avansa to stop.  The vehicles occupants panicked and ran, according to a a KNPB witness report and chronology obtained by West Papua Media.  The police continued to open fire on the unarmed group, shooting Demi Asso, Soni Kosay in the feet.  The three other unidentified activists did not sustain bullet wounds, and police arrested all immediately.  At around 13:00 the two shot KNPB activists and three others were taken to the Jayapura Police for further processing.

KNPB have appealed for support from international human rights observers, lawyers and NGOs to press for a credible investigation into the circumstances of this arrest and the excessive force used by Police to capture unarmed activists.

Nick Chesterfield, local sources
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AHRC: INDONESIA: Torture Report – A heinous act which is not seriously addressed


AHRC-FST-042-2011
July 14, 2011

Report on the practice of torture in Indonesia for the International Day of Support for Victims of Torture from the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) in Indonesia forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission

INDONESIA: Torture: A heinous act which is not seriously addressed

Download the full report at http://www.humanrights.asia/countries/indonesia/reports/ngo/KontraSTortureReport2011.pdf

I. Introduction
One of the serious issue of human rights violations—which is one of the nonderogable rights —that recently arised public attention is torture. First, in early October 2010 shortly before his plane left for the Netherlands, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono decided to cancel his state visit in the country. The cancellation was due to the filing of the lawsuit to the local court in the Netherlands by the activists of South Moluccas Republic (RMS/Republik Maluku Selatan) who live there. The lawsuit for one reason was based on charges of torture committed by police officers against those accused of being RMS activists. They were charged with treason when they displayed RMS flag as they performed cakalele dance in front of the president and some foreign guests during his visit to the Moluccas in June 2007. Following the cakalele incident the security forces, including special anti-terrorism unit Detachment 88 immediately arrested and detained hundreds of suspected RMS activists and some of them were allegedly become victims of torture.

Second, only a few weeks later in October 2010 a 10-minute visual documentation—circulating through ‘Youtube’—on torture of two Papuans recorded with mobile phone video tool. In the video, the extremely brutal and inhuman action was obviously conducted by people in military uniforms in order to conduct interrogations. With the rapid spread of that torture video, various Indonesian authorities—including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono— promptly responded to it and affirmed the practice of torture by military personnel in Tingginambut, Puncak Jaya, Papua. Many actually considered this video as an explicit example of the allegedly patterned practice of torture in Papua. The appeals of concern about the practice of torture also expressed by both foreign governments and international organizations.

This paper tries to examine the extent to which states implement human rights standards in the relevant international instruments of torture as an obligation of Indonesia post ICCPR and CAT ratification within the past year (July 2010 to June 2011). The implementative obligation is to do prevention efforts (through improvement of legislation, judicial system, and administration of state), ensuring the perpetrators brought to justice and provide redress to victims or their families. The contextual torture issues and problems in Indonesia can be seen from various post-priority agenda of meetings and discussions conducted by Indonesia government with relevant international human rights agencies.

So far Indonesia has made two reports to the Committee Against Torture under the Convention Against Torture, the first (initial report) was in July 2001 and the second (periodic report) in 2005. Unfortunately, Indonesia has not made the first report to the Human Rights Committee, the regulatory body for the ICCPR. In addition to reporting under the treaty body mechanism, there are also the follow-up results on torture based on the report
under the charter body mechanism. Under the mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council there are two follow-up agendas: first, the official country visit follow-up of Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, conducted on 10-23 November 2007; second, the special meeting to discuss the results of Indonesia Universal Periodic Review/UPR in 9 April 2008 during the Fourth Session of the UN Human Rights Council. As follow-up results from various human rights mechanisms mentioned before, there are several similar recommendation agendas expected to be implemented by Indonesia related to the issue of torture, such as:

  • Torture should be made crime and its definition should be in accordance with Article 1 of the Convention against Torture;
  • The lack of this legal rule would lead to the practice of impunity;
  • There shold be an effort to revise the detention system, whether the duration of detention and the effort to test the validity of such detention;
  • In the context of law enforcement, any evidence or testimony that was made due to a practice of torture;
  • Ensure that victims of torture receive redress (reparation).

In conducting an audit over the issue of torture in Indonesia during the past year (July 2010-June 2011), KontraS took up cases of alleged torture which were directly dealt with. Information on alleged cases of torture would be considered a secondary source that could help clarify the picture of torture practices more broadly. In addition the audit report also discusses several policies, including plans for the creation or legislation revisions, which emerged within the past year.

To read the following sections, please download the full report here:

II. The Lack of Normative Provisions Against Torture
III. The Pattern of Torture Cases
IV. Development of New Legislation Draft Related with Torture Issue
V. Conclusions and Recommendations

 

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Breaking News: Troops seeking arrest of Bpk Terrianus Israel Yoku, WPNA

BREAKING NEWS – URGENT.

westpapuamedia.info

1340 AEST, Tuesday Juy 11, 2011

Information has just been received from credible sources in Serui, West Papua, that Indonesian Army (TNI) soldiers are occupying the village of Mantembu in preparation for the arrest of Reverend Terrianus Israel Yoku, the Chairman of the National Congress of West Papua National Authority.

According to witnesses in Mantembu, 30 armed soldiers from KODIM Serui entered Mantembu at around 9.30am asking the whereabouts of the President of Papua – meaning Chairman of national Kongress WPNA, Terry Yoku.  The witnesses described via SMS that the soldiers are wearing full combat equipment complete with rifles, and ammunition.  People in the village are very scared.

The West Papua National Authority is a key sector within the West Papuan resistance movement, and is styled as a Transitional Government.  It has played a leading role in the mass non-violent resistance movement across Papua.  Together with KNPB, this week it boycotted the Indonesian-sponsored dialogue process of Neles Tebay and LIPI.

Currently, the Indonesian Army are also attempting to capture the head of the TPN-PB armed resistance in Tingginambut, Puncak Jaya.

Mantembu is the area from which the late ex-political prisoner Yawan Wayeni came.  Wayeni’s death was captured on a Youtube video in 2009 after having been bayoneted and disembowelled by Brimob troops in a case that provoked international outrage, although no-one has been held to account for his treatment or death.

Please stay tuned for more information.
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Arrested for rallying people without permission

Bintang PPU, 4 July 2011

Jayapura: According to the police, the arrest of five activists who were attending the commemoration of 1 July, OPM Day, was because they had mobilised people but had done so without having the necessary permit.

”They were not praying at the time they were disbanded,’ said a police officer. ‘If they want to pray, they can go to any place but they don’t need to gather lots of people together nor do they need to unfurl banners,’ said police chief of Jayapura, AKBP Imam Sietiawan.

He said that the five activists, Marthen Goo, Herman Katmo, Bovit, Yulian and Sakarias Tamikai, had rallied people together without having the necessary permission to do so from the police.

‘When they saw this, my men arrested the five and took them to the police station, interrogated them for a while, and later that day, we sent them home.’ He said that a permit from the police is necessary if you want to rally people. He said that 20 or 30 people were holding up banners, although they said that they were only going to go to the grave of Theys Eluay to say prayers.

Asked about notification that had been given by the committee, he said that there was no notification about gathering together a lot of people in Abepura. ‘It would be okay in Sentani. If they want to carry out these activities, please go ahead and do so. But they shouldn’t all gather together and wave banners. That’s not right. That is what is not allowed,’ he said.

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