Indonesian police arrest Buchtar Tabuni and two Papuan ‘ministers’

 Source: Asia Pacific Report

A United Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) leader, Buchtar Tabuni, about to be arrested by
Indonesian police outside his home in Jayapura earlier this week. Image: Jubi/ULMWP

Indonesian police have arrested Buchtar Tabuni, one of West Papua’s most important liberation leaders, along with three other United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) ministers, reports the movement in a statement.

“Indonesia are once again suppressing freedom of expression and assembly in West Papua, in an attempt to crush our spirit and commitment to our struggle,” said interim president Benny Wenda.

Buchtar Tabuni is chair of the West Papua Council, and a member of the ULMWP Council Committee. His arrest was confirmed by police.

Other West Papua human rights issues

He was arrested with Bazoka Logo, Minister of Political Affairs, and Iche Murib, Minister of Women’s and Children’s Affairs, said the statement.

The trio were arrested at Tabuni’s house in Jayapura, following an annual ULMWP meeting, and interrogated at a nearby police station.

“What is their crime? What possible justification can there be for this crackdown? This was after a peaceful meeting at a private residence,” the statement said.

“The right to assembly is a basic human right, enshrined in the constitutions of countries around the world, including Indonesia.”

Buchtar Tabuni . . . arrested outside his Jayapura home after a peaceful meeting. Image: ULMWP

Sharing information

The National Parliament of the ULMWP meets annually to share information on events in their regions and discuss the situation of the struggle.

“West Papuans have the right, under international law, to peacefully mobilise for our independence,” Wenda said.

He called on anybody concerned by the arrests to to express their disgust to the Jayapura police chief.

Wenda said the arrests were in breach of basic principles of international diplomacy and human rights.

Both the ULMWP and Indonesia are members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, a regional political forum.

“We sit around the table together as equals. Imagine if British police arrested a Scottish parliamentarian following a peaceful meeting in their own home — there would be international outcry.

“This is the brutal reality of Indonesia’s colonial occupation.”

Tabuni targeted

Buchtar Tabuni . . . arrested outside his Jayapura home after a peaceful meeting. Image: ULMWP

The statement said this was not the first time Tabuni had been targeted by the Indonesian state.

Tabuni has spent much of his life behind bars, and was previously arrested and charged with treason for his involvement in anti-racism protests in 2020.

“This is political persecution: the harshness of Buchtar’s treatment is due only to his position as a respected leader of the independence struggle,” said Wenda.

“History tells us that there is no such thing as a fair trial for West Papuans in Indonesia. Victor Yeimo is still gravely ill in prison, where he has been held on spurious treason charges since May 2021.

“We urgently need the assistance of all international solidarity groups and NGOs — you must pressure your governments to help secure Mr Tabuni’s release, and all other West Papuan political prisoners.

Wenda said that the ULMWP demanded that Indonesia immediately release him with Bazoka Logo and Iche Murib.

Freedom ‘essential’

“Their freedom is essential in order to keep the peace,” he said.

According to Tabloid Jubi, Jayapura City police chief Senior Commander Victor D. Mackbon had confirmed that his office had arrested Buchtar Tabuni.

He said Tabuni was arrested to “clarify the activities” held at his home.

“Buchtar Tabuni’s arrival is to clarify his community gathering activities,” said Commander Mackbon.

Police claim to thwart illegal arms syndicate in West Papua

 

Indonesian police respond to large anti-racism protests, 

Jayapura, 19 August 2019 Photo: Whens Tebay

Indonesian police in West Papua claim to have thwarted an underground arms syndicate in the region.

The Antara news agency reports that the ammunition was smuggled from the Philippines and destined for North Sulawesi and Sorong in West Papua.

Three people, including two in West Papua, have been arrested.

According to police, it's not the first arms trafficking syndicate operating in Papua.

Police in Papua are poised to crack down on the trade in illegal weapons which is linked to ongoing conflict in the highlands regencies.

In the past two years, Nduga and more recently Intan Jaya have been the focus of deadly exchanges between the West Papua Liberation Army and Indonesian security forces.

Source: Police claim to thwart illegal arms syndicate in West Papua | RNZ News

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Indonesia arrests dozens of West Papuans over claim flag was thrown in sewer

Officers shot tear gas canisters into student accommodation and took 43 people into custody after reports on social mediaHelen Davidson

Indonesian authorities raided a university dormitory in Surabaya on Saturday and arrested dozens of West Papuan students after a standoff over allegations the Indonesian flag was thrown into a sewer.

Officers broke down the gates of the Surabaya building and used teargas to clear the rooms, taking 43 people into custody on the Indonesian Independence Day weekend.

Surabaya police told Kompas news the students were brought in for questioning over the “destruction and disposal” of the Indonesian flag, which had been hanging outside the student hostel.

The students were released around midnight after questioning.

Surabaya city police chief, Senior Commissioner Sandi Nugroho, told the Jubi news outlet that witnesses claimed the individual who damaged the flag had gone inside the student accommodation.

Reports of the damaged flag had reportedly spread on social media, drawing a crowd of residents to the building to protest on Friday and Saturday, allegedly shouting anti-West Papuan slogans and threats, and singing the Indonesian national anthem.

On Friday night police urged the crowds outside the student accommodation to leave.

On Saturday afternoon police fired teargas into the building. CNN Indonesia reported at least 23 shots of teargas were fired.

The Indonesian human rights lawyer Veronica Koman accused the police of a “totally disproportionate” response, and alleged a number of students were injured during the raid.

“Fully armed police shot teargas into the dorm, charged into it, forced the students to squat and waddle along the ground, then arrested them,” Koman said.

“They were released at almost midnight. The students still could not go in because the teargas still smelt strong. Some of their stuff are still confiscated without any warrant.

“The arrest is totally disproportionate. The students were not even told why they were arrested. That violates the criminal procedural law.”

Guardian Australia has attempted to contact the East Java Regional Police for comment.

Koman said two Indonesian students who had attempted to bring food and water to the students on Saturday, prior to the raid, were beaten and arrested.

She said she had been speaking to the students on Friday night and could hear “racists chants” through the phone.

“People demanded the students to come out so they can kick them out from the city and kill them,” she said.

“They chanted ‘Out! Out! Papua out!’, ‘massacre Papua! massacre Papua’. The crowd sang Indonesian anthem until past midnight.”

CNN Indonesia also reported the chants from the crowd, which it said included people wearing clothing referencing the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the far-right Pancasila Youth organisation.

West Papua has been locked in a civil conflict for decades over its demands for independence from Indonesia, which annexed the territory on the western half of the island of Papua in the 1960s. In that time there have been claims of up to half a million people killed, and Indonesia has been accused of human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings.

Reports of growing support among non-Papuan Indonesians have bolstered the independence movement, and Koman said harassment and intimidation of West Papuans in Indonesia was worsening.

“Last year, mobs forced to fly Indonesian flag at the same location,” she said.

“This only happens towards the West Papuans.”

Last week Indonesian authorities broke up a number of protests across Indonesia – timed to coincide with consideration of the West Papuan independence claim at the Pacific Islands Forum – with mass arrests and some violence.

Source; The Guardian.com

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via IFTTT August 19, 2019 at 07:40AM

More than 150 West Papuans arrested in demonstrations – lawyer

Christians in Indonesia’s Papua Province Increasingly Under Threat

By Gina Goh

03/27/2019 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – In predominantly Muslim Indonesia, its largest and easternmost province, Papua, a place where over 80% of the population identifies as Christian, stands in stark contrast to the rest of the country which holds the world’s largest population of Muslims.

Blessed by missionaries from the Netherlands, Germany, and the United States with the Gospel, the resource-rich region, however, has long suffered from economic inequality, lack of development, and human rights abuses from Jakarta. It continues to be the country’s least developed and most impoverished area.

Now, Christianity in this region is also increasingly threatened as the influence of Islam grows. The number of Muslims and mosques particularly in cities has increased, especially in Jayapura district. Many old mosques are demolished and rebuilt with taller minarets to overshadow nearby churches.

On February 27, with samurai swords in their hands, a gang of six led by a controversial Muslim cleric ransacked a Christian man’s home for playing Christian music at dawn as a nearby Islamic boarding school was observing morning prayer.

Ja’far Umar Thalib, the cleric who runs Ihya As-Sunnah Islamic boarding school in Muara Tami district, allegedly barged into the home of Henock Niki around 5:30 a.m. with several sword-wielding followers dressed in white.

“The perpetrators then severed the cables of the victim’s speakers. They told him that the loud music was disturbing worshipers in the mosque,” national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo told reporters in Jakarta. Other news outlets also reported that the mob went on to damage the speakers and injure the man’s 14-year-old son.

According to Dedi, Henock told the attackers that the morning prayer was at 4:15 a.m., which should have been over by that time. They subsequently fled south in a minibus.

“The perpetrators then severed the cables of the victim’s speakers. They told him that the loud music was disturbing worshipers in the mosque.”

The attack on Henock’s house drew protests from local residents who immediately took action to block the road to stop the perpetrators from fleeing. Residents reported the incident to the police and asked them to arrest the mob.

The police were able to apprehend the suspects and secure evidence from the scene, including five samurai swords, several long machetes, and a number of media materials from Laskar Jihad, Thalib’s radical Islamic organization.

Reskrimum Director of the Papua Regional Police, Commissioner Tonny Harsono, told reporters, “We are charging the seven suspects with Article 170 Paragraph 2 concerning destruction, while three of them will also be charged with Law Number 12 of 1951 concerning ownership of sharp weapons.”

Thalib is known for his radical line of thoughts and actions. He recruited a “jihadist army” to fight in a deadly conflict between Christians and Muslims in Ambon, in the Maluku Islands, that claimed the lives of approximately 5,000 people between 2000 and 2003.

On March 4, more than 2,000 Christians in Papua took to the streets to demand Thalib’s expulsion.  They held a protest outside the Papua governor’s office in the provincial capital Jayapura. Protesters said they would take the matter into their own hands if the governor failed to expel Thalib.

Rev. Dorman Wandikbo, president of the Evangelical Church in Indonesia who was part of the rally, said, “His presence has damaged interreligious harmony in Papua, and if no action is taken, he will turn this place into a land of conflict.”

He also added that Thalib’s influence was spreading in Papua. “We don’t want him to create another conflict like the one that devastated Ambon,” he stated.

Members of the minority Muslim community in Papua are also in support of his expulsion. Taha Alhamid, a Muslim leader who was part of the rally, said his community also believed that Talib should be returned to his hometown.

“We want the police to immediately remove him from Papua,” he said.

For interviews, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: press@persecution.org

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UN demands probe into Indonesian treatment of Papuans

JAKARATA, 22 FEBRUARY 2019 (THE AUSTRALIAN) – United Nations human rights experts have demanded an independent probe into “alleged killings, unlawful arrests, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of indigenous Papuans” by Indonesian police and military in West Papua and Papua provinces.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights has highlighted what it says is a culture of impunity among security forces in the provinces.

The demand comes a fortnight after a video went viral showing a handcuffed Papuan youth being interrogated by Indonesian police with a snake wrapped around his body, and as the UN group negotiates with the Indonesian government for access to the restive provinces.

There have also been reports this week that hundreds of students have fled fighting between the West Papua Liberation Army and Indonesian security forces in the highlands district of Nduga, following the December massacre of 16 government workers.

The video showed an indigenous youth, arrested on February 6 on suspicion of having stolen a mobile phone, yelling in fear while police officers push the snake’s head towards his face.

In a statement released on Thursday night the UN said the case reflected a “widespread pattern of violence, alleged arbitrary arrests and detention as well as methods amounting to torture used by the Indonesian police and military in Papua”.

“These tactics are often used against indigenous Papuans and human rights defenders. This latest incident is symptomatic of the deeply entrenched discrimination and racism that indigenous Papuans face, including by Indonesian military and police.”

The group of five UN experts includes the Special Rapporteurs on the rights of indigenous peoples; torture cruel and inhumane treatment; on the situation of human rights defenders; on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance; as well as the chairman of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

The Papuan police have publicly apologised for the incident, and said an officer involved had been investigated and suspended for ethical violations.

But, the UN group has said prompt and impartial investigations must be carried out.

“We urge the government to take urgent measures to prevent the excessive use of force by police and military officials involved in law enforcement in Papua. This includes ensuring those, who have committed human rights violations against the indigenous population of Papua are held to account,” it said.

“We are also deeply concerned about what appears to be a culture of impunity and general lack of investigations into allegations of human rights violations in Papua.”

Papuan police commissioner Ahmad Mustofa Kamal told The Australian there was “no such thing as a culture of impunity, racism or excessive use of force” in the local police force, and it was an “exaggeration” to say there was systemic use of torture and racism towards indigenous Papuans.

“We always use force proportionally, we treat every citizen of Papua equally,” General Kamal said.

“We provide services and protection and enforce the law equally, regardless of race and religion, including investigating one of our own officers. This was an isolated incident and the officer has been punished.”

Human rights groups have long-accused successive Indonesian governments of sanctioning the violent suppression of Papua and West Papua’s independence movements, fearing their success could encourage similar movements in other provinces.

Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights has estimated more than 10,000 people were killed in Papua and West Papua during the 32-year Suharto era which ended in 1998.

An Amnesty International report last year found security forces were responsible for 95 extra-judicial killings in the two Papua provinces over the past eight years — almost one a month.

While The Netherlands granted Indonesia independence in 1949 it held onto Papua until 1962 when it ceded control of the province to the UN.

Indonesia was granted de facto control the following year and in 1969 conducted the so-called Act of Free Choice referendum in which 1025 men and women selected by the Indonesian military voted to determine the political status of the province.

Source: Fijitimes.com

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UN experts call for Indonesia to investigate violence against Papuans

Video of Papuan suspect being tortured with snake goes viral

A video showing two police officers torturing a Papuan man with snake during detention has gone viral after being published on the online platform YouTube. The video received more than 83.000 views after Indonesian human rights lawyer Veronica Koman shared the video on her Twitter account, claiming that Sam Lokon, a member of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) faced a similar torture technique after being arrested last month.

Koman further explained that the torture has features of racism given the pattern of the persecution in Papua.

The video shows a handcuffed Papuan man sitting on the floor in front of a wall while two police officers attempt to force a confession from the suspect.

The officers threaten the man to put the reptile in his mouth and trousers if he would not confess the alleged theft of a mobile phone. Multiple international media outlets published articles about the abuse.

The police torture allegedly occurred in the highland city of Wamena, Jayawijaya Regency, Papua Province.

The spokesman of the Papuan Regional Police, Ahmad Musthofa Kamal, first attempted to downplay the officers’ actions, arguing that the snake was not venomous and that the officers had not beaten the suspect.

As public attention on the case became bigger, officer Kamal announced that the internal police investigation body PROPAM had investigated the case and initiated a code of conduct trial.

Both investigated officers were allegedly relocated to a different police unit. However, the case was not filed to a public court, allowing the perpetrators to get away with minor disciplinary sanctions, if any.

The identity of the suspect and the perpetrators, as well as the detailed circumstances of the torture have not been published.

Source: http://www.humanrightspapua.org

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Indonesia: UN experts condemn racism and police violence against Papuans, and use of snake against arrested boy

GENEVA (21 February 2019) – Prompt and impartial investigations must be carried out into numerous cases of alleged killings, unlawful arrests, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of indigenous Papuans by the Indonesian police and military in West Papua and Papua provinces, say a group of UN human rights experts*.

In the latest reported case, a video was circulated online of a handcuffed indigenous Papuan boy being interrogated by Indonesian police with a snake wrapped around his body. The boy, who was arrested on 6 February for allegedly having stolen a mobile phone, is heard screaming in fear while the laughing police officers push the snake’s head towards his face.

“This case reflects a widespread pattern of violence, alleged arbitrary arrests and detention as well as methods amounting to torture used by the Indonesian police and military in Papua,” the experts said.

“These tactics are often used against indigenous Papuans and human rights defenders. This latest incident is symptomatic of the deeply entrenched discrimination and racism that indigenous Papuans face, including by Indonesian military and police,” they added.

Representatives of the Indonesian police have publicly acknowledged the incident, and apologised for it. However, the UN experts say that prompt and impartial investigations must be carried out.

“We urge the Government to take urgent measures to prevent the excessive use of force by police and military officials involved in law enforcement in Papua. This includes ensuring those, who have committed human rights violations against the indigenous population of Papua are held to account,” the experts said.

“We are also deeply concerned about what appears to be a culture of impunity and general lack of investigations into allegations of human rights violations in Papua,” the experts stressed.

The incident in which the boy was mistreated comes amid an ongoing military operation in Papua, which became part of Indonesia in 1969 and which has seen the growth of an increasingly vocal pro-independence movement in the past decades.

ENDS

(*) The UN experts: MsVictoria Tauli Corpuz, Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples; Mr. Seong -Phil Hong (Republic of Korea),Chair -Rapporteur, Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; Mr.Michel Forst (France), Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders;Mr. Nils Melzer (Switzerland), Special Rapporteur on torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Ms E. Tendayi Achiume, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance

The Working Groups and Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Proceduresof the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

UN Human Rights, Country Page — Indonesia

For more information and media requests please contact: Ms Julia Raavad (+41 22 917 9288 /jraavad@ohchr.org)

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts: Mr. Jeremy Laurence, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+ 41 22 917 9383 / jlaurence@ohchr.org)

Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on Twitter @UN_SPExperts.

Concerned about the world we live in? Then STAND UP for someone’s rights today.  #Standup4humanrights and visit the web page at http://www.standup4humanrights.org

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