Jakarta – The United Nations has declared that Indonesia's detention of Papuan human rights advocate Filep Karma is an infringement of international law, New York human rights group Freedom Now says.

"The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued its opinion that the government of Indonesia is in violation of international law by detaining Filep Karma," the watchdog says in a press release received by The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The detention violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a multi-party treaty by which Indonesia is bound, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it says.

According to the group's executive director, Maran Turner, the UN says Karma is "a non-violent advocate who was arrested for his views and convicted in a trial marred by judicial bias, denial of appeal without reason, and intimidation tactics".

Turner said he had urged President Obama to raise Karma's case with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and to call for Indonesia's compliance with the UN opinion by releasing Filep Karma.

Karma, who is also a former civil servant, was arrested on December 1, 2004 for raising the Papuan Morning Star flag at a political rally in commemoration of Papuan independence from Dutch rule.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for crimes of hostility against the state and sedition in a trial that fell far below international standards of due process.