The Indonesian government has come under renewed criticism over alleged torture in West Papua after a military tribunal sentencing three soldiers to between eight and ten months prison for abuse and insubordination.

The ABC'S Senior Correspondent for the Australia Network, Jeff Water was the first journalist to broadcast the torture video from West Papua.

Presenter: Geraldine Coutts

Speaker: Jeff Waters, ABC Senior Correspondent for the Australia Network

Waters: Well last year there was a video became available, apparently taken on a mobile phone, which showed two ethnic Melanesian men in one of the Papuan provinces being apparently tortured. It was the second video to come out last year. The first one was of a man called Yawan Wayeni, who had been disembowled and was being taunted by his apparently military captors as he died. But this video pertains to two ethnic Melanesian men who are threatened with knives, have plastic bags put over their heads, have their genitals burnt with burning sticks, it's quite disturbing stuff. And as a result of the public outcry over this, one there wasn't so much outcry over the Yawan Wayeni video, but this one was so apparently shocking that Indonesian security forces or the government decided to take action, and they took three soldiers to a military tribunal, not a civilian court, and charged them with insubordination because they'd been told not to torture people. So they were charged on disobeying orders as opposed to torturing people.

Coutts: Bizarre?

Waters: So they were just given a very, very, or people are calling a very lean sentence of eight to ten months, so many people have come out criticising that.

Coutts: Well who are they that have been criticising the sentencing?

Waters: Well they vary, of course you've got all the usual Free Papuan activists who are continually lobbying for independence of Papua. But the most interesting one is that the State Department spokesman in the United States. Now the United States is traditionally quite quiet on West Papua and the issues there, but Phillip Crowley, who is the spokesman for Hillary Rodham Clinton, has tweeted on the internet saying and I quote, "the sentences issued in an Indonesian military trial do not reflect the seriousness of the abuses of two Papuan men depicted in the 2010 video. Indonesia must hold its armed forces accountable for violations of human rights. We are concerned and will follow this case." Well that's the strongest thing I've heard come out of Washington on West Papua or anything West Papuan for many, many years. However of course when Hillary Rodham Clinton was in Papua New Guinea recently and also visited Indonesia there wasn't anything near as strong words said. Also Australia's third political party, the Greens have issued a very critical statement of Indonesia and its actions. Human Rights Watch, the big international human rights organisation based in New York has written in its report criticising, a report on Indonesia criticising Indonesia over both of the videos. And the Asian Human Rights Commission also came out this week.

Coutts: And is that the extent of the likely backlash against Indonesia?

Waters: Well not necessarily, of course nobody knows what's going on behind the scenes until Wikileaks tells us in a year or two what the State Department is actually saying to Indonesia. But the Greens in particular in Australia as of the middle of the year will hold the balance of power in the Senate and they're calling for the end of all military cooperation between Australia and Indonesia. And while they're in this negotiating position they might be able to hold sway over the government. I don't think that they'll be able to convince them to withdraw all military cooperation because of the obvious policing of terrorism and people smuggling and all of that that goes on between the two countries, but they may have some influence over the level of military involvement. Of course there's the chance of further instability in the Melanesian provinces, and that includes Maluku, but also I've been told by human rights barristers that there are moves afoot to see the President SBY, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono actually possibly charged with human rights abuses in a foreign country if he travels, if he doesn't follow through with the country's international obligations and charge people properly who indulge in torture.

Coutts: Jeff just very briefly, there's a bit of talk about military activity along the border with PNG as well?

Waters: That's right, Papua New Guinea has rounded up about 80 women and children and men and are holding them in a facility in a secret province. They're alleged to be linked to the Free Papua military wing, OPM, and there's news today that nine of those people have been charged with apparently setting up an illegal military rebel camp on the Papua New Guinea side of the border. But at this stage there's very little criticism of that move coming out of Papua New Guinea itself.