Geoff Thompson – A special representative to the United Nations (UN) secretary-general says there are credible reports that human rights defenders in the Indonesian province of Papua are being held, tortured and harassed.

The secretary-general's special representative on the situation of human rights defenders, Hina Jilani, has just completed a tour of West Papua.

Ms Jilani says she heard credible reports of arbitrary detention, torture, harassment through surveillance and restrictions placed on the freedom of movement of Papuans.

She says police and the military have threatened human rights defenders attempting to investigate allegations with prosecution. The representative says they have labelled the activists as separatists in order to undermine their credibility.

Albert Rumbekwan of the National Human Rights Committee in Jayapura has told the ABC he has received at least one death threat since talking to Ms Jilani.