Tag: Impunity

Emergency: Papuan Political Prisoner Filep Karma refusing to Eat

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Emergency: Papuan Political Prisoner Filep Karma refusing to Eat

Beginning today, Tuesday 5/10/2010 the Papuan Political Prisoner Filep Karma is refusing to eat because of the inadequate medical treatment being afforded to Papuan political prisoner, Fery (Ferdinand) Pakage who has been tortured by Sipir Lapas (jail authorities?) Abepura.

As a result of that torture that he has become physically disabled and totally blind in his right eye. This has now motivated Filep Karma to stop eating until the Indonesian government through Ministry of Law and Human Rights facilitate the medical treatment of Fery Pakage.

If this does not happen then Filep Karma has decided that he will no longer eat until Fery pakage has been evacuated for medical treatment. This report is released appealing for international advocacy.

Direct Message from sources inside the prison.

More to come

WAMENA KILLING WAS EXTRAJUDICIAL MURDER: WITNESSES

WAMENA KILLING WAS EXTRAJUDICIAL MURDER: WITNESSES

Nick Chesterfield, westpapuamedia.info

Tuesday, October 5, 2010: Evidence is continuing to emerge from Wamena, in West Papua’s Highlands, that a shooting of unarmed community security guards by Indonesian police on Monday was a extrajudicial murder by Indonesian Police.

According to witnesses interviewed by a local human rights investigation team, Ismael Lokobal, the coordinator of the Balim Petapa (unarmed community security security guards formed by Dewan Adat Papua), was shot whilst trying to seek shelter from indiscriminate police shooting at the DAP Balim Lapago office about 1 km from the police station.

Amos Wetipo and Frans Lokobal were shot when police opened fire after they refused to get down from a police truck outside the Wamena North K3 Police station.  Wetipo was shot in the head by police standing at the back of the truck, bullets also striking Frans Lokobal in the wrist.  Both men suffered from heavy blood loss according to witnesses, and Amos Wetipo is reportedly in a coma.

The shootings occurred after unarmed Petapa members went to the police station to seek and explanation for the unauthorised seizure of a box of berets for Petapa uniforms, and Rp40 million in cash. No Petapa paraphernalia that was seized contained any banned items or symbols so there was no reason for its seizure.  Human rights sources reported to westpapuamedia.info that Petapa members felt the seizure was heavy handed and repressive, and refused to leave the police station without an explanation, when police emerged firing assault rifles directly at the gathered crowd without any verbal warnings or warning shots.   Indonesian media have incorrectly reported that the Petapa members had attacked the police station causing an officer to be injured, but this is untrue.

Petapa was formed by the DAP in July after a series of violent incidents carried out by security forces and transmigrant militia members, and had been providing a visible peacekeeping security presence for mobilisations on peaceful demonstrations, which though allowed under Indonesian law are almost always dispersed with force by security forces.  Whilst they have been trained in physical self defence, a significant part of Petapa’s training has been on non-violent conflict resolution.  Petapa are not mandated by DAP to be anything but a defensive security guard.

The Baptist Church of Papua is deeply disturbed by the continued violence meted out by Indonesian security forces in the highlands, and had called for the police to take responsibility for their actions.   “The barbaric behavior of this state apparatus is not human. Security forces should not shoot and kill civilians for any reason and or ideology,”said  Reverend Socratez Sofyan Yoman,  President  of the Baptist Church of Papua.

“Violence and the killing of God’s people is not the way the settlement but creates new more difficult problems.  The unity of the Indonesian state (NKRI) can not be managed and maintained in with violence and spilling people’s blood,” Yoman said.    “The shooting shows that the people of Papua are not safe in the land of their ancestors.  The security forces should be responsible and do not quibble with blaming civilians,” explain Reverend Yoman.

Local human rights sources are calling for an immediate, open investigation by Komnas HAM (National Human Rights Commission), with international monitoring, and the the police officers guilty of shootings to be charged with murder and sentenced appropriately.

The situation in Wamena is extremely tense on latest information, and demonstrations are likely.  Local human rights sources are calling for the Indonesian security forces to exercise restraint and professionalism.

westpapuamedia.info

A Preliminary report in Bahasa Indonesia contains photos of the dead, injured and arrested men (not of their deaths and arrests) and a full chronology.  is available for download here: KRONOLOGIS PENEMBAKAN ANGGOTA PETAPA DI WAMENA

More photos and reports to come.

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BREAKING NEWS: INDONESIA SHOOTS 3, 1 DEAD IN WAMENA

BREAKING NEWS:

INDONESIA SHOOTS 3 COMMUNITY SECURITY GUARDS IN WAMENA, 1 DEAD

Nick Chesterfield, westpapuamedia.info

Monday, October 4 1800 AEST: Information has just been received from sources in Wamena that Indonesian security forces have shot dead three West Papuan men who were part of the newly formed civil people’s guard.   Members of Petapa, the indigenous non-violent security force formed by the Papuan Customary Council to protect West Papuan people engaging in peaceful free expression, were attempting to defuse a tense situation caused by an Indonesian police raid at 0800 local time this morning.

A crowd had gathered outside the Jayawijaya Police headquarters peacefully but vibrantly demanding the return of uniforms and legally approved paraphernalia for the Petapa, or Regional Indigenous Council Civil Bodyguard. Police officers escalated the situation without warning and with full force, as they came running from the Police office firing live rounds into the air and at the crowd according to witnesses interviewed by a local human rights team today.

ISMAIL LOKOBAL, 34, died after being shot in the heart outside the local DAP (Dewan Adat Papua, or Papuan Customary Council) office.  POLRI officers had chased the crowd, firing indiscriminately toward them, and chased down most of the victims as they attempted to seek refuge in the DAP office.

AMOS Wetipo, 42 was shot in the head, and FRANS LOKOBAL, 36 was shot in the wrist.  Both men are in a critical condition from bloodloss, but it is unknown at time writing if they have been provided medical treatment, or are likely to survive.LAORENS LOGO, 38; Johanis HESELO, 41; Aleks Wetapo, 35; Oto Wetapo, 36; all members of the Regional Indigenous Council Civil Bodyguard, have been arrested, severely beaten by Police and are being held at Polres Jayawijaya.  The situation is being described currently as extremely tense.  A dispersal order and curfew is being enforced, but it is unclear whether local people are going to accept the killings.

More information as it comes to hand.

(c)  West Papua Media Alerts 2010.

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KNPB to continue to press for a referendum – plus comment

KNPB will continue to press for Referendum

Bintang Papua, 30 September 2010

Jayapura: The spokesman  of the Komite Nasional Papua Barat – National Committee of West Papua, Mako Tabuni, speaking at a press conference, said that political dynamics were moving fast at present at a time when calls for a referendum are spreading throughout  Papua. In a democracy, this is an issue that must be accepted by the Indonesian state and the Indonesian people, together with the Papuan people.

The KNPB, as a national medium of the views of the Papuan people will continue to press for a referendum as the final solution to resolve the political status of West Papua, because this can resolve all the problems in Papua and it represents the best possible solution for the Papuan people. Without a referendum, the Papuan people’s problems will never be resolved.

He said that since Indonesia calls itself a democratic state based on the Pancasila, it can surely understand why the Papuan people are calling for a referendum. Many human rights abuses have been committed in the past and have persisted for 48 years, during which time the military forces have directly or indirectly caused great suffering for the Papuan people.

With the issue of a referendum having become so heated, the KNPB will continue to struggle for this demand.

With regard to the hearing held recently (in Washington)  which was attended by a number of Papuan leaders, including the chairman of DAP, Forkorus Yoboisembu, Herman Awom and others,  nothing has been forthcoming from the US suggesting that it does not support a referendum.

Mako Tabuni said that he is still awaiting reports about the activities of Papuans such as Nicolas Messet and Albert Yoku who were also present at the congressional hearing, nor has there been any official report regarding the results of the hearings. [Note: Verbatim reports of all the discussion have been widely circulated.]

Regarding telephone communications that have been reported by irresponsible elements that have been reported by the media in Jayapura to the effect that the issue of referendum has been rejected, these are quite untrue and provocative, because there has been no official announcement from the US Congress to the effect that a referendum is unacceptable.

Even if that were the case, the KNPB and the  Papuan people will continue to struggle for their political demand because this is their right, and it is a matter that cannot be determined by the Indonesian elite.

[Comment:  If the KNBP says that it is waiting for the decision of the US Congress in response to the call for a referendum, this reflects a misunderstanding of how the US congressional hearing mechanism works. The hearing was itself an unprecedented event, the first time that a US congressional body held a public discussion on the question of West Papua. The verbatim reports of the hearing, including all the testimonies and the discussions between the chairman of the Asia-Pacific sub-committee and members of the audience have been widely circulated, as well as the views of the US government. Everything is in the public domain. The US Congress itself cannot be expected to make a statement on an issue that was discussed by one of its sub-committees.

It now depends on organisations like the KNPB which support the call for a referendum in West Papua to translate these documents into Indonesian so that they become widely known in West Papua and Indonesia. By doing this, they can strengthen support for a referendum in Indonesia and internationally while at the same time revealing the strength of feeling about the issue to the Indonesian government. Arguably, the sudden decision of the SBY government to dispatch a large team of ministers to West Papua for the purposes of making an  ‘evaluation’ is a sign that the government is beginning to understand the strength of feeling and support for the West Papuan people’s demand.  TAPOL]

AHRC: INDONESIA: President ignores parliament while protesters are arrested over major human rights case

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-STM-204-2010
September 30, 2010

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

INDONESIA: President ignores parliament while protesters are arrested over major human rights case

On September 28, 2009 the House of Representatives issued several recommendations to the President to bring the perpetrators of the infamous student disappearances of 1998 to justice. Human rights activists who protested against the inaction of the president in Jakarta with a tent action in front of the presidential palace were arrested during the evening of September 27, 2010. The Asian Human Rights Commission strongly condemns the arrest of human rights defenders after a peaceful protest.

Between 1997 and 1998, 24 students and other activists were abducted by the Army Special Forces Command for their involvement in the struggle for change and democracy in the so-called New Order government of that time. Until the final fall of the New Order regime in 1998 massive human rights violations and political oppression marked the history of Indonesia. The National Human Rights Commission had conducted inquiries into the abduction and disappearance of the protesters in 2006 and passed the case into the Human Rights Court process as established by a special law. However, the required follow up of the attorney general has never taken place who claimed that the parliament and the president would have to take action first.

While Parliament made its recommendations one year ago, it is the President who is now delaying justice in the case by not taking any action to implement the Parliament’s recommendations after one year. The recommendations were:

1. the president to issue a presidential decree to establish an ad hoc human rights court on the case of the student disappearances of 1997/98;
2. the president to establish the whereabouts of 13 victims of the event, who are still missing until today;
3. full remedies to be given to the victims and victim’s family;
4. the government to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Several human rights groups including the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) have voiced their demands to the president on several occasions. On Monday this week the civil society speakers held a peaceful protest event in front of the presidential palace voicing their demands. At around 6pm 30 protesters including family members of the disappeared students of 1997/98 were arrested and brought to the Central Jakarta Police Station. They were released only around midnight.

On September 28, 2010 the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto promised KontraS that government will do their part in following the recommendations of the parliament. Would the case be brought up as a political issue, Mr. Djoko worried, the opposition parties in the parliament may use it to “hit” on the President.

The AHRC condemns the arrest of human right defenders and victim’s family members after peaceful protest action and is very disappointed with the negligence from the President and the Attorney General’s Office side in regard to the case student disappearances of 1997/98. The perpetrators continue enjoying immunity while the victims and their families have not received compensation.

# # #

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

Asian Human Rights Commission
19/F, Go-Up Commercial Building,
998 Canton Road, Kowloon, Hongkong S.A.R.
Tel: +(852) – 2698-6339 Fax: +(852) – 2698-6367
facebook/twitter/youtube: humanrightsasia

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