Jakarta – The Press Council urged the government to deport French journalists Thomas Charles Dandois and Louise Marie Valentine Burrot to their home country.

"They did not only misuse their tourist visas, but also contacted a number of sources in Papua," the council chairman Bagir Manan told reporters in a conference in Jakarta on Friday, as quoted by Antara news agency.

He said that the council had sent a letter to the Law and Human Rights Ministry's immigration directorate-general, requesting the deportation of both journalists.

Regarding the relationship between the journalists and armed civilian groups in Papua, he said that the government needed to declare certain areas as open or closed in a bid to prevent people from easily entering them.

"We do not treat foreign journalists and local journalists differently. The only difference is foreign journalists need to obey immigration regulations and they need to have a permit to stay here," he added.

The Independent Journalist Alliance (AJI) also demanded the same action be taken by the government regarding both French journalists.

"They are members of a research team that communicated with several sources before another reporting team came to the location [in Papua]," AJI chairman Eko Maryadi said.

Dandois and Burrot were arrested by Papua police on Aug. 6. Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Yotje Mende said that his institution suspected that the two journalists were involved in espionage because they had held discussions with members of a separatist group led by Enden Wanimbo in Wamena.

He said that investigators grew more suspicious after the two were caught "deleting data from their laptops" while in police detention. (alz/nfo)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/09/05/govt-urged-deport-french-journalists.html