Two pro-independence activists were arrested in Indonesia's restive Papua province for holding "anarchic protests", national police said Friday.
One of those arrested was Bukhtar Tabuni, head of the West Papua National Committee, who had left prison last year after serving three years for organizing a 2008 rally, national police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said.
Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – National Intelligence Agency (BIN) Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman said on Friday law enforcement and military officers had begun screening for weapons after identifying that armed groups had infiltrated Papuan cities.
Bagus BT Saragih and Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura/Jakarta – Armed groups were believed to have infiltrated cities and towns in Papua as calls for tougher measures grew in the wake of escalating violence in the easternmost province.
Arientha Primanita – The head of Indonesia's State Intelligence Agency has spoken of the need for a sweep of Jayapura for armed civilians following heightened violence in the capital of Papua province for more than a week now.
Credible and trusted West Papua Media sources have provided video clips (below) that show the extent of destruction caused by the rampage of soldiers from the Indonesian Army (TNI) Battalion 756 in Wamena on June 6.
Information has been received from human rights sources on Yapen Island alleging that major security sweeps and blockades of villages home to non-violent political activists are causing mass [text missing].
London – Today UK human rights campaigners called for an immediate ban on all arms sales to Indonesia, following Wednesday's brutal rampage by Indonesian security forces in the troubled Papua region.
Dear friends,
Index: ASA 21/020/2012
The Indonesian authorities must ensure a prompt, independent and impartial investigation into reports of unnecessary and excessive use of force including firearms by security forces in Wamena, Papua province.
AWPA has written to the Australian Foreign Minister urging that he contact the Indonesian President asking the President to control the security forces in West Papua and urging that the security forces be returned to their barracks as a way of avoiding further escalation of the situation and avoiding possible bloodshed.
The Indonesia Human Rights Committee is calling on the New Zealand Government to respond to the latest escalation of deadly violence and destruction in Indonesian-controlled West Papua.
Matt Brown, Jakarta and – At least a dozen people have been shot in a string of bloody incidents in Indonesia's Papua province.
While Indonesian officials blame Papuan separatists, local activists say the security forces themselves are responsible.
In the latest incident, soldiers are accused of going on a shooting spree at Wamena in the Baliem Valley.
Erwida Maulia – Ten people were killed when the Indonesian Military (TNI) opened fire in an alleged retaliatory attack on a village in Wamena, Papua, on Thursday, a human rights activist in Jayapura said on Friday.
Nethy Dharma Somba and Rabby Pramudatama, Jayapura/Jakarta – Two civilians were killed in separate incidents in Papua in separate incidents on Wednesday and Thursday involving Indonesian Military (TNI) members and police officers in Papua as security in the nation's easternmost province continue to deteriorate.
Camelia Pasandaran & Banjir Ambarita – Violence continued to escalate in Papua on Thursday as gunmen shot a woman and a police officer in the latest incidents of separate shootings in the restive province this week.
Nethy Dharma Somba and Bagus BT Saragih, Jayapura/Jakarta – Violence gripped Papua on Wednesday with a soldier killed and – in separate incidents – two people injured by gunshots.
Jakarta – A civil servant of the Cendrawasih Military Command XVII was shot to dead by an unknown assailant in the city of Jayapura, Papua, on Wednesday night.
Jakarta – Another resident of Jayapura, Papua is dead and is suspected of having being shot and killed at 8:30 a.m. local time on Thursday, barely hours after a unknown shooter had taken the life of a civil servant the night before.
Jakarta – The Jayapura Police finally confirmed on Thursday afternoon that one of their members had killed a resident of Jayapura, Papua earlier this morning after previously denying the allegation.
West Papua Media sources in Serui – Credible but unconfirmed reports have been received by West Papua Media reporting that a major operation is currently being carried out by a combined force of of Australian trained and armed police and military special forces.
A bloody and brutal rampage by Indonesian security forces is currently underway in Wamena, in the Baliem Valley of West Papua, after two soldiers were killed for running down a small boy in Wamena on Wednesday afternoon.
Workers at Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.'s Grasberg mine in Indonesia threatened to return to strike as tensions grow following the dismissal of three union members this month, a union official said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is urged to immediately appoint members to a dialogue team in order to intensify dialogue with stakeholders both in the Land of Papua and Jakarta. The formation of a dialogue team is an urgent need and essential to bring to an end the shooting incidents that have recently occurred in Papua.
The human rights activist, Sebby Sambom has declared that the Indonesian government has armed a group of civilian personnel in Papua which have been armed in order to carry out actions like the shooting of a foreign visitor, in order to damage the reputation of Papuan people in the outside world.
Jayapura – According to several journalists working in Serui, Yapen district in Papua, including a journalist from Bintang Papua, they had been warned against publishing information about a demonstration that took place there on 29 May.
Ezra Sihite & Farouk Arnaz – Authorities need to quickly arrest the perpetrators of a string of recent shootings in Papua, lawmakers and observers say, with the shooting of a foreigner on Tuesday sending a strong signal that the province is not safe.
Indonesian diplomacy to allay international concerns about its policy of special autonomy for the province of Papua is slowly bearing fruit, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa says.
Intensification of Indonesian security force repression on Papuan non-violent activists and ordinary villagers is allegedly occurring across Yapen Island, in response to escalating demands for freedom from violence, according to credible human rights sources on the island.
Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Papuan activists and scholars have called on the government to allow the use of the region's traditional symbols and stop prosecuting locals who promote them.
Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – A joint team of military soldiers and police officers on Tuesday arrested two members of the Free Papua Organization (OPM) in a raid on OPM headquarters in a forest located near Kampung Wadapi, Angkaisera district, Yapen, Papua.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The violence in Indonesia's easternmost province appears to be spiralling out of control after an Indonesian and a foreigner were shot by unknown assailants in separate incidents on Tuesday.
A teacher was shot and killed dead in Puncak Jaya regency on Tuesday, while a German tourist was shot and wounded in Jayapura.
West Papua Media with local sources in Jayapura – Questions are being raised again about the willingness of the Indonesian police in Papua to properly investigate suspicious shooting incidents by "Unknown persons", after a German born Spanish citizen was shot by a sniper and critically injured whilst swimming at a popular tourist beach in Jayapura.
The transitional government declared by the Federated Republic of West Papua organised another peaceful demonstration on May 29, with participants from Yapen, Waropen and Mamberamo gathering to peacefully condemn ongoing acts of violence, terror and intimidation by members of the Indonesia Police and military forces (TNI).
At least five countries have used a human rights review at the United Nations to question Indonesia's failure to make any arrests in series of shooting incidents in Papua.
London – On May 23rd, the Indonesian government released its annual human rights record for Universal Periodic Review by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. Throughout the course of the proceedings, Indonesia failed to make mention of their ongoing human rights abuses to the people of West Papua.
Karlis Salna – Indonesia is facing fresh criticism over its human rights record following a year of continued unrest and the jailing of leading political activists in Papua.
London – Today, Indonesia's human rights record was reviewed by the UN Human Rights Council during the 13th session of the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva, Switzerland.
The recent shooting of five young Papuan men by Indonesian Police is characteristic of the out of control 'State violence' against indigenous people at Indonesia's 'development' frontier in West Papua.
Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – Police in the violence-wracked town of Mulia in Papua's Puncak Jaya district have confirmed that three civilians were shot and injured on Thursday by suspected separatists who killed a motorcycle taxi driver earlier in the day.
Banjir Ambarita – Police from the mobile brigade unit (Brimob) reportedly shot five civilians in Paniai, Papua on Tuesday evening – one victim is dead and four are said to be critically injured.
AWPA is urging the PIF Leaders at their summit in Rarotonga, the Cook Islands:
The separatist group, the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, has called on Vanuatu to reconsider its foreign policy in regard to Indonesia.
A West Papuan living in exile in Vanuatu has been arrested along with about two dozen others for protesting against the arrival of an Indonesian military aircraft in Port Vila today.
Andy Ayamiseba, who is also a Vanuatu citizen, says he believes he may have been arrested for protesting without a valid permit.
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Papua Legislative Council speaker John Ibo, former Papua provincial secretary Andi Baso Basaleng and former Papua provincial financial bureau head Paul Onibala had their initial trial session at the Jayapura Corruption Court on Thursday, for the alleged misappropriation of Rp 5.2 billion (US$566,000).
The High Court in Papua has decided that Forkoruus and his co-defendants should be sentenced to three years, in accordance with the verdict declared at the trial on 16 March.
The defence lawyer of the five men, Gustaf Kawer said that the High Court's decision had simply affirmed the verdict of the district court which had given the men sentences of these years each.
Jayapura – Socialization of the Accelerated Development Unit for Papua and West Papua (UP4B) continues to be met with challenge and refusal. After a rejection incident took place in Manokwari, now the people of Nabire Regency also carried out a rejection action towards UP4B. This action took the shape of a peaceful protest at Nabire airport, Thursday (10/5) morning.
At least 42 prisoners – both political and criminal – have been beaten by warders in Abepura Prison where they are being held, These beatings occurring on 30 April.
The separatist OPM Free West Papua Movement is planning to fly the banned Morning Star flag throughout Indonesia's Papua region for three days from July the 1st.
The TP/OPM [National Libration Army/Organisasi Papua Merdeka] is planning to fly Morning Star flags throughout the territory of West Papua for three days from 1-3 July this year, said Yusak Pakage, chairman of the Street Parliament.
Tomorrow's EU-Indonesia human rights dialogue should address systematic rights violations in Papua, which remain an ugly stain on the country's record as a burgeoning democracy, says TAPOL.