Jakarta – Human rights activists are calling for the immediate release of Sabar Iwanggin, a Papuan lawyer, arrested because he forwarded a mobile phone text message, said to be offensive to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Frederika Korain, a lawyer with the rights groups Secretariat of Justice and Peace, told Adnkronos International (AKI) that the arrest had no legal basis. She was also worried about possible abuse of Sabar Iwanggin.

"We are opposing this arrest. How can he be accused to encourage violence for forwarding an SMS?" she said.

"We are also worried because in the past, several Papuans were taken away from the island and some died due to 'unknown reasons.' We don't want that to happen to Iwanggin," she added.

Sabar Iwanggin was reportedly arrested on 18 October in Jayapura, Papua's main city. Last Thursday he was transferred to Jakarta.

Iwanggin, a lawyer with human rights group Elsham, has been charged under the criminal code for offending the president and inciting disorder. If found guilty, he risks up to six years in jail.

The incriminating SMS reads "The president has an agenda of wiping out Papuans by poisoning food and hiring members of the army as doctors, restaurant workers, and motorcycle taxi drivers to kill Papuans."

But according to media reports, Jayapura police say the arrest of Iwanggin is a criminal matter and deny he was arrested by the anti-terrorism police.

Human rights activists in Jayapura say this SMS message has been forwarded across Papua since July 2007, and that thousands of people in Papua have received it.

Situated at the east-end of the Indonesian archipelago, Papua was controversially annexed by Indonesia in 1969.

It is believed that most of the population has never accepted the integration and a strong opposition movement is active and asking for a new referendum.

However, throughout the years, the Indonesian armed forces' response has reportedly been harsh and tainted by widespread allegations of human rights abuse.