Allan Thompson, Ottawa – Joao Antonio Dias said he watched Indonesian soldiers kill wounded East Timorese demonstrators by banging their heads against rocks.
Roberto Jeronimo spoke of beatings and electrical shocks to his genitals he endured while being tortured in an Indonesian prison.
Irwan Firdaus, Jakarta – Indonesia deported an American woman Thursday after police arrested her for taking notes and photographs during a pro-independence protest in the disputed territory of East Timor.
Several meetings to highlight the situation in East Timor were held in Central Java on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the Santa Cruz Massacre, 12 November 1997.
Bangkok – Today is the sixth anniversary of the Dili massacre in East Timor when an estimated 271 people were gunned down in cold blood by Indonesian troops. Among the dead was a young Malaysian student. The Nation's Steven Gan tells his story.
Lospalos – Last 3 November 1997, dozens of East Timor youth conducted a demonstration in Los Palos, Lautem. The demo was a protest against the behaviour of army soldiers shooting in random when a group of Catholics passed a military post in Paioto. Los Palos on August 31.
Dili – Trials began Monday for five East Timorese accused of taking part in a rebel raid on a police station on May 28.
Prosecutors allege the men were among the rebels who stormed the station in the provincial capital, Dili, stabbed two officers and then fled with police weapons. One rebel was shot dead by police.
Jakarta - Xanana Gusmao told MateBEAN that he had never asked to be transferred to Nusakambangan, an Alcatraz-like prison island off the shore of Cilacap, Central Java as was stated by Thahir Abdullah a high-ranking officer from the Department of Justice
Jakarta – Rumours said that the Indonesian military, especially the intelligence community planned to ban IMPETTU (the East Timor Students' Association) considering the fact that they cannot control the Organisations' activity anymore.
Liz Walsh – Three European ambassadors are to go to East-Timor early in the new yeras as part a new EU initiative announced in Dublin last week by British Foreign Seretary Robin Cook. The initiative comes on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the Dili massacre on Wednesday in which more than 250 civilians were shot dead by the Indonesian military which invaded the country in 1975.
Lisbon – East Timorese abroad will hold a national congress here next March, called by independence leader Xanana Gusmao, who is serving a 20-year prison term in Indonesia, resistance sources said Tuesday.
The congress is to consider a charter of rights, freedoms and guarantees to be applied in the former Portuguese colony annexed by Indonesia in 1976, they said.
For the first time, clandestine East Timorese fighters are building bombs. When one went off accidentally recently it introduced a new element into the East Timor problem and underscores the urgency of a resolution. The Indonesian Foreign Ministry says the explosives were intended to kill civilians in Dili indiscriminately.
On 7 August, the District Council bestowed the title of Honorary Citizen of Brasilia on the Timorese Resistance leader, Xanana Gusmao. The Ambassador of East Timor in Angola, Dr. Roque Rodrigues, received the title on behalf of Xanana Gusmao.
Semarang – Fifteen East Timor students from the East Timor Students' Association (IMAPTI) of Semarang had met members of Commission A (dealing with defense and security issues) of the Central Java Regional Parliament. They questioned the MPs on the bad treatment felt by four East Timor youth arrested recently by security officers.
The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) is concerned for the safety of up to eight East Timorese men still in detention in Semarang and Dili, for their alleged involvement in the manufacture and possession of home-made bombs (see UA 23/97 and UA 23/97PR).
Jenny Grant, Jakarta – Two East Timorese men could face the death penalty if found guilty of trying to topple the Government through terrorism.
Stephen Spencer, Canberra – The federal ALP has moved to dramatically recast major areas of its foreign policy, in what it frankly admits is a recognition that some areas, in particular Indonesia and land mines, could have been handled better in government.
Karen Polglaze, Jakarta – Indonesia's military has tried to link Nobel Peace Prize co-recipient Jose Ramos Horta with an alleged terrorist group.
Karen Polglaze, Jakarta – East Timorese independence advocate and Nobel Peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta today rejected accusations by the Indonesian military that he was linked to a clandestine group accused of making bombs.
The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) is concerned for the safety of Manuel Afonso and Lino Xavier Nunes who are currently in detention at POLRES (Regional Police Headquarters) in Dili, following their arrests in July and September 1997.
Canberra – Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta Tuesday accused the Australian government of covering up Indonesia's involvement in the deaths of five Australian journalists in East Timor 22 years ago.
Australia's 1996 investigation into the killings was seriously flawed, the leading East Timorese independence activist said, joining calls into a fresh inquiry.
Sydney – The president of the Timorese Democratic Party (UDT) said here Sunday he was asked by the Indonesian military to kill Australian journalist Hamish McDonald in 1975.
McDonald is now foreign editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.
Don Greenlees – The Federal Government is facing a political contest over human rights after a decision by the ALP to call for the first time for a "right of self-determination" for East Timor in its new foreign affairs policy.
Jacqui Birchall, East Timor – The path of most despair - Site of death and oppression since 1975, East Timor had little to offer one intrepid traveller – except perhaps the satisfying knowledge that her very presence was a burr in the side of the authorities.
A report into the death of five Australia-based journalists at Balibo in East Timor 22 years ago will be examined today at a seminar at the University of NSW Law School. One man who knows just what happened at Balibo, writes Asia Editor David Jenkins, is Lieutenant-General Yunus Yosfiah, leader of the attacking force and now one of Indonesia's most influential generals.
Sydney – The Indonesian army has arrested in the last days dozens of youths, in several raids to villages aimed at discredit the armed rebel movement, a resistance leader told Lusa on Thursday.
Sander Thoenes and Quentin Peel, Jakarta – Indonesia may walk out of talks with Portugal over the status of East Timor unless progress is made soon, Ali Alatas, Indonesia's foreign minister, has said.
Sydney – Five Australian journalists killed in East Timor were deliberately targeted by Indonesian troops and not caught in crossfire as had been thought, a report said on the 22nd anniversary of the incident.
James Dunn – Timor watchers would have detected a touch of irony in a news item from Jakarta earlier this week.
Craig Skehan and Louise Williams – In an attempt to secure political asylum for a colleague, jailed East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao has written a letter acknowledging that he authorised the making of bombs to attack military targets.
Military authorities in East Timor have seized a cache of 20 homemade bombs and detained two rebels accused of planning to destroy the territory's capital, Dili, an Indonesian newspaper reported yesterday.
Up to thirteen East Timorese men are believed to be still in detention in Semarang and Dili following two recent incidents involving home-made bombs.
Jakarta – An Indonesian military official has accused two East Timorese sheltering in the Austrian embassy in Jakarta of being terrorists.
Jim Della-Giacoma, Jakarta &150; Two died in fighting at an East Timor mountain shrine including a man who tried to erect a banner bearing the guerrilla movement Fretilin's flag, military sources said on Wednesday.
Lisbon &150; Jose Ramos-Horta, 1996 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate, emphatically denounced the recently reported murder, in East Timor, of one elementary school teacher, Jacinto da Trindade. His colleague, Jzlio Pereira, was seriously injured in the assault and was taken to the military hospital in Dili. Mr.
[The original source of this posting (other that the individual's e-mail address and period that the report covers) was not specified - JB]
In a new report, "Deteriorating Human Rights in East Timor," Human Rights Watch/Asia says the conflict in the disputed territory has intensified since a series of guerrilla attacks around the Indonesian parliamentary elections last May.
Mrs Wilhelmina Rennie, now of Ramsay, Isle of Man, flies to Australia on Friday October 10 to give evidence on the cover-up of her son's murder by Indonesian forces in Balibo, East Timor. Her only son, Malcolm, was a reporter for Australian Channel 9 TV. Killed with him on October 16 1975, were his cameraman, Brian Peters from Bristol and the 3-man crew from the rival Channel 7.
Sydney – More than 10,000 Australians have said to be ready to provide shelter to East Timorese refugees facing deportation, despite risking two-year jail terms.
Jakarta – Bureaucratic problems are blocking the departure of six East Timorese who have sought sanctuary in the Austrian embassy in Jakarta and asked to leave to Portugal.
The Austrian ambassador said on Tuesday the "biggest problem is setting the exact identity of those people", stressing the administrative procedures were "complex and long".
The twenty two year old conflict in East Timor can come to an end if the two main parties engaged in armed violence in the territory are inspired by the higher interest of peace and the well being of the people.
Jakarta – The Indonesian military has accused East Timorese rebels of killing five soldiers and seven civilians in the troubled territory, it was reported yesterday.
Lisbon – An East Timorese couple has been killed by Indonesia's intelligence service, Intel, the Timorese Socialist Association (AST) has said.
Quoting clandestine sources, the resistance movement said in a statement on Friday that the two had been killed last Wednesday night inside their house.
Jakarta – Six East Timorese, including a couple with two children, broke into the Austrian embassy in Jakarta on Friday and demanded political asylum, police sources said.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the six entered the embassy at about 10 a.m. (0300 GMT) and were still inside. Embassy officials were not immediately available for comment.
Up to 13 East Timorese men have been arrested in Dili, the capital of East Timor, and near the town of Semarang on the Indonesian island of Java. It is not clear if the detainees have been granted access to independent legal assistance, raising fears that they may be at risk of torture or ill-treatment if still held incommunicado for interrogation.
Jakarta – East Timor governor Abilio Soares, who once escaped an assassination attempt by suspected rebels in the troubled former Portuguese colony, was re-elected to office on Thursday, a local legislator said.
David Brough, Lisbon – South Africa would welcome the release of jailed Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao before a state visit by Indonesian President Suharto in November, South Africa's ambassador to Portugal Kingsley Makubela said.
Macau – East Timor's political party Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) rejected on Tuesday in "absolut and vehemently" the recent statements by guerrilla leader Konis Santana who said the territory's resistance could accept the relationship Puerto Rico has with the United States as a model for future ties between the former Portuguese colony and Indonesia.
An Indonesian court has jailed four East Timorese men to two months and 15 days each for forcibly entering the Bulgarian embassy in Jakarta to seek asylum.
Local reports say the court found the four guilty of using violence against law officers.
David Watts, Jakarta – Britain is proposing a new move in the decades - old East Timor dispute. In an attempt to bring Indonesia out of isolation over its illegal occupation of the tiny Far Eastern territory, Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary, proposed yesterday that a European Union "troika" should carry out a fact-finding mission.