Indonesian police in West Papua say four prisoners isolated for suspected Covid-19 infection have escaped. Police say four inmates escaped from Bhayangkara Police Hospital on Wednesday and are still at large.

Muhammad Hendartyo, Jakarta – A public attorney of Legal Aid Center for the Press, Rizki Yudha, on Thursday addressed the cyberattack against event organizers of an online public discussion highlighting racial discrimination against Papua, which he deems as a real threat towards democracy.

Andita Rahma, Jakarta – A Journalist's Union for Diversity (SEJUK) activist, Tantowi Anwari, on Thursday said Indonesian mass media in general still show a perspective that is considered racist in reporting news about Papua.

Taufiq Siddiq, Jakarta – University of Lampung (Unila) students' community Teknokra had reportedly been terrorized by an unknown source after the community planned to hold a discussion about racial discrimination against people with Papuan descent.

Jakarta – Activists from the Teknokra Student Press Activities Unit (UKPM) at the University of Lampung (Unila) in South Sumatra say they received threats from unidentified individuals prior to holding an online discussion on the theme "Racial discrimination against Papuans" on Thursday evening, June 11.

Dwi Bowo Raharjo and Yosea Arga Pramudita – The Civil Society Coalition is urging the police to arrest the perpetrators of terror threatening freedom of expression and opinion who have been attacking journalists and activists of late.

Jakarta – Members of the University of Lampung (Unila) student press Teknokra have received anonymous threats in relation to the organization's plan to hold a public discussion on racial discrimination against Papuans.

Febriana Firdaus – Student Eden Armando Bebari, 19, was allegedly shot and killed by Indonesian security forces while fishing in his home town in West Papua in April.

Shalom, Assalamuallaikum Wr. Wb., Om Swastiastu, Namo Buddhaya, Salam Kebajikan

Apriza Pinandita, Jakarta – Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the authorities to drop all charges and release seven Papuan activists and students accused of treason for their involvement in antiracism protests in Jayapura, Papua, in August 2019.

Ali Umar – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo must change the government's approach in resolving the Papua problem. At the start of his first term in office, Widodo managed to offer a new hope in efforts to find a dignified solution in Papua. He granted amnesty to Papuan political prisoners and guaranteed the upholding of human rights there.

Jakarta – Indonesian authorities should drop all charges and release seven Papuan activists and students on trial for their involvement in antiracism protests in Jayapura, Papua, in August 2019, Human Rights Watch said today. During the week of June 14, 2020, judges in Balikpapan, Kalimantan, will issue verdicts in three separate trials for "treason" against them.

John McBeth – Jakarta's Administrative Court, reputedly the most progressive branch of Indonesia's much-maligned judicial system, may have broken new legal ground by ruling that the government acted illegally in shutting down the internet during anti-racism riots in Papua last year.

Rizki Fachriansyah, Jakarta – The University of Indonesia (UI) Lecturers Alliance has conveyed its support for a discussion on racism against Papuans that was previously disavowed by the university rectorate.

Tri Indah Oktavianti, Jakarta – The University of Indonesia (UI) has issued a statement disavowing a public discussion held by the university's Student Executive Body (BEM UI) about racism against Papuans in the legal system, saying that the discussion did not "reflect the views and attitudes of UI as an institution".

Arjuna Pademme, Jakarta – The family of Papuan treason defendant Buchtar Tabuni says the 17 year prison sentence being demanding by the public prosecutor is unjust.

Jayapura – The Coalition for Law and Human Rights Enforcement of Papua complains about some issues that their clients encountered during the trial of seven Papuan political prisoners in Balikpapan.

Nur Yasmin, Jakarta – Amnesty International Indonesia has called out the Indonesian government for failing to address human rights abuses in Papua, including dozens of extra-judicial killings in the country's easternmost region, in a report titled "Civil and Political Rights' Violations in Papua and West Papua" released on Monday.

Tri Indah Oktavianti, Jakarta – Prosecutors at the Balikpapan district court in East Kalimantan are seeking between five and 17 years of prison for seven Papuans charged with treason for their involvement in antiracism protests Jayapura, Papua, in August 2019.

Evi Mariani, Jakarta – The giant wave of the United States' #BlackLivesMatter campaign has now swept across Indonesia. A number of groups have begun to discuss racism in the country and have touched upon a rarely discussed topic: racism against Papuans.

Tom Fawthrop – After 50 years of popular resistance to Indonesian rule in West Papua, this forgotten war is flaring up again. The indigenous movement, led by the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), has never lost hope of recovering ancestral lands dating back centuries before their annexation by Indonesia.

The human rights watchdog TAPOL has condemned a demand by Indonesian prosecutors for a 17-year imprisonment for West Papuan activist Buchtar Tabuni.

Tabuni is one of seven West Papuan political prisoners on trial in East Kalimantan, having been moved to custody there from Papua for "security reasons".

Egi Adyatama, Jakarta – Multiple mysterious phone calls have terrorized an Amnesty International discussion touching on rights violations in Papua and West Papua held on Friday, June 5, 2020.

Evarukdijati, Sri Haryati, Jayapura, Papua – Papua's Law Enforcement Task Force arrested TW, a member of a criminal armed group that attacked PT Freeport employees in Kuala Kencana that resulted in the death of New Zealander Graeme Thomas Wall.

Two other employees of the giant mining firm also suffered injuries in the attack on March 30.

Egi Adyatama, Jakarta – Amnesty International executive director Usman Hamid said he would lodge the latest report of his organization on Papuan issues titled "Civil and Political Rights Violations in Papua and West Papua" to the United Nations (UN).

Ghina Ghaliya, Jakarta – A virtual discussion about human rights issues and the repression against Papuans' freedom of expression held by rights group Amnesty International Indonesia on Friday was bombarded by spammers, in the latest show of disturbance against Indonesian activists recently.

Jakarta – The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has picked up indications that the Bloody Paniai human rights case in Papua will stall like other human rights cases. The indications of this emerged after the Attorney General's Office (AGO) again returned the investigation dossier and documents on the case to Komnas HAM.

Human rights watchdog TAPOL has condemned the demand by Indonesian prosecutors seeking 17 and five years imprisonment for West Papuan activists Buchtar Tabuni and Irwanus Uropmabin.

On June 2, the Jayapura District Prosecutor's Office issued 33 pages containing charges against the defendant Irwanus Uropmabin.

Alya Nurbaiti, Jakarta – The lawsuit against President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's decision to cut off the internet in Papua and West Papua during antiracism protests in the two provinces last year was meant to be a call for better policies in the future, the suit's plaintiffs have said.

Reuters – Thousands of miles from the protests that have swept the United States, Black Lives Matter has become a rallying cry for pro-Papuan activists in Indonesia, provoking questions about accusations of deep-seated racism.

Budi Sutrisno, Jakarta – As the death of George Floyd, an African-American man who died while being arrested in the United States, sparks a global outcry, Indonesian rights advocates and young people have stepped forward to remind fellow citizens that racism has long been an issue at home as well.

Elvira Rumkabu, Jayapura – The death of George Floyd, an African-American who was brutally murdered by a policeman in an American city, is not an isolated incident but a sign of deeply entrenched and normalized outright racism.

Caesar Akbar, Friski Riana, Jakarta – After the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) found the president and the Communication and Informatics Minister guilty for the internet blackout in Papua and West Papua in August of 2019. The current minister Johnny Gerard Plate believes that the steps were taken by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo for the nation's best interest.

The Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) ruled the government internet ban in Papua and West Papua during the anti-racism protests in August and September 2019 was unlawful.

TAPOL condemns the demand by Prosecutors seeking seventeen and five years imprisonment for West Papuan activists Buchtar Tabuni and Irwanus Uropmabin.

Jakarta (Reuters) – An Indonesian court on Wednesday (June 3) ordered President Joko Widodo to make an official apology after ruling that his government's decision to rein in Internet speeds to contain civil unrest in the Papua region last year was unlawful.

Moch. Fiqih Prawira Adjie, Jakarta – A panel of judges at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) has granted a lawsuit filed by civil society groups against the government's decision to impose an internet blackout during weeks of protests in Papua and West Papua last year, declaring that such move violated the law.

An Indonesian court on Wednesday ordered President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to make an official apology after ruling that his government's decision to rein in internet speeds to contain civil unrest in the Papua region last year was unlawful.

Voice of Papua – While the delay in the Indonesian government response to the covid-19 corona virus is disappointing, Papua's provincial government needs to be commended for its speedy awareness of how serious the matter crisis is.

Sorong – Four defendants charged with treason in Sorong City, West Papua province, were finally declared guilty and sentenced to eight months and 15 days jail at the Sorong District Court on Thursday May 28.

John Martinkus – It was a simple insult that started it: "Monkey."

The Indonesian police, alongside Islamist and nationalist Indonesians, gathered outside the Papuan university dormitory in the East Javanese city of Surabaya and yelled "Monkey" at the Papuan students inside.

At 7:00 in the morning on May 27th, two West Papuan activists, Gerson Son Tabuni and Kalep Kilungga were arrested without explanation by the Indonesian police in Kuala Kencana, West Papua. Gerson was shot in the leg and brutally tortured. His crime according to the police? Posting information on social media "that is at odds with the Republic of Indonesia".

Amanda Siddharta, Jakarta, Indonesia – Six activists charged with treason in Jakarta for organizing a protest rally last August outside the presidential palace have been freed from prison.

Paulus Suryanta Ginting, Ambrosius Mulait, Charles Kosay, and Dano Anes Tabuni, along with the only woman in the group, Arina Elopere, were freed this past week.

Antara, Jakarta – Two members of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) in Timika, Papua, have reportedly been arrested by local police over alleged slanders the two made in a recent Facebook post.

"One of the arrested is the KPB spokesperson," said Mimika Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. I Gusti Gde Era Adhinata in Timika, May 29.

M Rosseno Aji, Translator: Dio Suhenda (Intern), Jakarta – Chief of the Papuan Human Rights Lawyers Association, Gustaf Rudolf Kawer, reported that dozens of inmates in the Jayapura Precinct detention center are now suspected to have been infected with COVID-19, due to the lack of isolation procedures for suspected COVID-19 positive inmates.

Rizki Fachriansyah, Jakarta – Five Papuan political activists who were convicted of treason for protesting in support of Papuan independence in Jakarta have been released from prison after serving nine-month sentences.

[The following is a translation of a press release issued by the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) following the release of five Papuan political prisoners on May 27.]

Reza Gunadha and Stephanus Aranditio – Four out of five Papuan political prisoners (tapol) were officially released from the Salemba prison in Central Jakarta today, Tuesday May 26.

The fate of one other Papuan political prisoner incarcerated at the Pondok Bambu women's detention centre in East Jakarta, Arina Elopere, is still unclear.

Jakarta – Four Papuan political prisoners immediately underwent a corona virus rapid test after being released from Salemba prison in Central Jakarta today. One of them was Paulus Suryanta Ginting or Surya Anta.

Papua Advocacy Team member Suarbudaya Rahadian said that the rapid tests were done to ensure that they were not infected by Covid-19 during their time in jail.

Usman Hamid and Veronica Koman, Jakarta – The United Nations is right: It's impossible to practice physical distancing and self-isolation in an overcrowded prison. We therefore applaud the decision by Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly to release almost 40,000 prisoners at risk from the COVID-19 pandemic.