Lisbon – Indonesian secret police have arrested five East Timorese university students in Surabaya, Java, on suspicion of supporting the pro-independence Socialist Association of Timor, the group said today.
The arrests yesterday were part of a huge operation launched in September to dismantle the association's main bases on Indonesian territory, the group said in a statement issued here.
It said it would ask the human rights group Amnesty International to campaign for their release.
East Timor, a former Portuguese territory, was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and annexed the following year in a move that has never been recognised by the United Nations.