APSN Banner

US lawmakers urge Indonesia to free Papuan activist

Source
Agence France Presse - August 23, 2011

Washington – More than two dozen US lawmakers on Monday urged Indonesia to free Papuan activist Filep Karma, saying that his detention raised questions about the emerging US ally's commitment to democracy.

Karma was sentenced to 15 years in prison after a 2004 demonstration in which he raised a banned flag associated with separatism in Papua, an ethnically distinct and impoverished province of the vast archipelago.

Twenty-six members of the US House of Representatives across party lines sent a letter to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urging Karma's release and saying he has suffered "degrading and inhumane treatment" in prison.

"As a strategic partner, we remain concerned that your government meet its fundamental obligations to protect the rights of its people, as respect for human rights strengthens democracy," the letter said.

"Mr. Karma's case represents an unfortunate echo of Indonesia's pre-democratic era," said the letter, led by Republican Representative Joe Pitts and Democratic Representative Jim Moran.

President Barack Obama's administration has put a priority on building relations with Indonesia, which is the world's largest Muslim-majority country and has rapidly shifted to democracy since strongman Suharto's fall in 1998.

But human rights groups allege a climate of impunity in Papua, where poorly armed separatists have been waging an insurgency since the 1960s when the region was incorporated into Indonesia in a widely criticized vote.

US lawmakers in 2008 also wrote letters on behalf of Karma and Yusak Pakage, another Papuan activist who was also sentenced for raising the separatist flag. Indonesia pardoned Pakage last year.

Fred Fedynyshyn of Freedom Now, a Washington-based group that is offering Karma free legal counsel, said that he had heard of concerns about Karma's treatment in prison.

Karma was placed into an isolation cell after he tried to mediate the end of a prison riot in December, Fedynyshyn said.

Country