Jakarta – A court in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua on Wednesday jailed two people for five and six years each for taking part in violent protests against a US-run mine, a lawyer said.

Hundreds of protesters clashed with security officers in March near Papua's capital Jayapura over the mine run by US giant Freeport-McMoran, leaving six people dead.

The Jayapura district court found Selpius Bobi, 22, guilty of "inciting others to commit violence" during the melee and sentenced him to five years, said lawyer Iwan Niode. He said the court also sentenced 20-year-old Elias Tamaka to six years for "resisting against authorities by using force" during the clash.

"We are going to file an appeal this Friday for the pair and for Nelson Rumbiak and the other 10 defendants," Niode told AFP. Niode refused to attend the trial, charging that it was a "theatrical act" and that his clients were innocent. The same court on Monday sentenced Rumbiak to six years while 10 of his co-defendants were jailed for five years.

Sixteen Papuans, mostly students, have been standing trial accused of stoking the violence in Papua's Abepura, which left five security personnel and one civilian dead.

Critics accuse Freeport-McMoran of not giving enough to the people of Papua in return for the mine. They allege the mine causes pollution and that the military's protection of the site leads to human rights abuses.

At the time, the violence fanned fears of further unrest in the isolated province some 3,000 kilometres (1,800 miles) east of Jakarta, where Indonesia has grappled with a sporadic separatist conflict for decades.