On April 14, the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) shot at a small plane that was landing at an airstrip in Intan Jaya Regency in Indonesia’s restive Papuan provinces (Twitter/@udayxSEA, April 14). [1] The TPNPB asserted that it would continue to target aircraft and pilots, including foreigners, after the attack. This attack came more than two months after the …
Human Rights Watch authorities should drop politically motivated treason charges and unconditionally release an activist detained for peacefully advocating Papuan independence, Human Rights Watch said today. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo should publicly direct security forces involved in counterinsurgency operations in Papua to act in accordance with international law or be held to account.
On May 9, 2021, a special police unit, Satgas Nemangkawi, arrested Victor Yeimo, a spokesman for the West Papua National Committee (Komite Nasional Papua Barat, KNPB) in Jayapura, the capital of Papua province. Police charged him with treason for a 2019 statement, made during anti-racism protests and ensuing riots in Papua and West Papua, calling for a referendum on independence. Papua’s police chief, Mathius Fakhiri, said that the police are still “digging up” cases against Yeimo: “Let him get old in prison.”
AP
Indonesian police arrested a pro-independence activist in Papua on suspicion of treason and sedition in connection with anti-Jakarta demonstrations that turned into deadly riots in the region two years ago, authorities said Monday.
The arrest of Victor Yeimo, chairman of the National Committee for West Papua (KNPB), a Papuan civilian organization that seeks a referendum on self-determination for Papua, occurred over the weekend amid escalating tensions in the far-eastern region.
Indonesia’s president has ordered a crackdown on Papuan armed separatist rebels after they assassinated the government’s intelligence chief for the region in late April.
Yeimo was picked up on Sunday in the provincial capital, Jayapura, after being a fugitive for nearly two years, said M. Iqbal Alqudusy, a police spokesman for a counter-insurgency task force known as Operation Nemangkawi.
Reuters
Indonesia’s military and national police chiefs visited the rebellious Papua region Friday, in a rare joint trip to discuss security there with field commanders after insurgents dealt government forces setbacks, including assassinating an army general last month.
Air Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, head of the armed forces (TNI), and Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo, the chief of police, arrived together on Thursday night as a firefight with the separatist rebels flared up in Papua’s Ilaga district. Ilaga is in Puncak, a regency where insurgents have mounted deadly attacks lately.
On Friday, the chiefs met in nearby Mimika regency with leaders and members of a joint military-police counter-insurgency task force, before the two were scheduled to return to Jakarta in the late afternoon, officials said.