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Indonesian Court Indicts Papuan Activists for Treason
January 30, 2012

The self-proclaimed president of Papua, Forkorus Yaboisembut, arriving at the Jayapura District Court on Monday. The court on Monday indicted Yaboisembut and four other Papuan activists for treason for raising an outlawed Papuan flag and declaring the region independent. (Antara Photo) The self-proclaimed president of Papua, Forkorus Yaboisembut, arriving at the Jayapura District Court on Monday. The court on Monday indicted Yaboisembut and four other Papuan activists for treason for raising an outlawed Papuan flag and declaring the region independent. (Antara Photo)
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KampungHighlander
10:42am Jan 31, 2012

Seeking independence is not treason. It is simply exercising your right to self determination as enshrined in the UN Charter, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

jchay
9:23am Jan 31, 2012

So why FPI militia commander Munarman and its radical mobs not indicted for treason for such obvious threat to overthrow President SBY if he dares to disband FPI, saying "Yudhoyono will become like Ben Ali of Tunisia. Indonesia will be like Egypt. We will topple SBY because he has diverted [attention from] the [Ahmadiyah] issue," (as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.)

Only in Indonistan!

wolof
1:50pm Jan 30, 2012

Freedom to Papua! They are not part of Indonesia, they are Malainasian and should re unite with the Papua New Guinea.

It might take time but it will happen.

Indonesians are doing exactly what the Dutchs did: COLONISATION

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Jayapura. An Indonesian court on Monday indicted five Papuan activists for treason for raising an outlawed Papuan flag and declaring the region independent.

The men, who led a peaceful pro-independence celebration attended by 5,000 indigenous Papuans on Oct. 19, face life in prison if found guilty.

“The defendants jointly tried to commit treason with the intention of allowing the country or part of the country to fall into the hands of the enemy,” Judge Jack L. Oktovianus at the Jayapura district court said.

“They acted together to declare Papua an independent region, which constitutes an act of treason.”

Local TV footage had showed the men declaring the region’s independence in the Papuan capital Jayapura and paramilitary police then shooting into the crowd and beating participants with batons and bare fists.

At least three people were killed and more than 90 injured in the chaos. Eight police officers were let off with written warnings for disciplinary infractions.

New-York-based Human Rights Watch on Sunday called for the cancellation of the trial.

“It’s appalling that a modern democratic nation like Indonesia continues to lock up people for organizing a demonstration and expressing controversial views,” the group’s Asia deputy director Elaine Pearson said in a statement.

Indonesia in 1969 took control of Papua, a former Dutch colony on the western half of New Guinea island, after a vote among a select group of Papuans widely seen as a sham.

Papuans, mostly indigenous Melanesians, have long accused Indonesia’s military of violating human rights in the province and complain that the bulk of earnings from its rich natural resources flow to the capital.

Jakarta keeps a tight grip on the region through its military, which regularly clashes with locals, and foreign-based journalists are barred from reporting in the region.

More than 170 people are currently imprisoned in Indonesia for peacefully promoting separatism in Indonesia, most of them from Papua or the eastern Maluku islands, according to Human Rights Watch.

AFP