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Letter to Condoleezza Rice on arrest and detention of Papuan human rights lawyer
West Papua Advocacy Team/ETAN - October 31, 2007
The Honorable Condoleezza
Rice
Secretary of State
Department of State
Washington, DC 20520
October 31, 2007
Dear Madame Secretary,
We are writing in order to bring to your urgent attention the arrest of human rights lawyer Iwanggin Sabar Olif in Jayapura on October 18, 2007. According to statements by officials at the time of his arrest, the arrest was made under a law dating to the Suharto dictatorship era which criminalizes "insulting the President."
That law was ruled unconstitutional by the Indonesian Constitutional Court in December 2006. Specifically, Olif is accused of forwarding to five close associates a text message that alleged that President Yudhoyono was involved in a program targeting ordinary Papuans with poisoning, kidnapping and other actions, reports of which have recently swept West Papua. Olif did not write the message.
This arrest occurred in the context of a broad crackdown on Papuan critics of the Yudhoyono government. Papuan human rights advocates who met in June with senior UN official Hina Jilani have been especially targeted. As you know, Jilani visited West Papua in June as representative of the UN Secretary General regarding human rights defenders.
We are especially concerned that witnesses to the arrest of Olif have said that a detachment from "Team 88" carried out the arrest. Contradicting these eyewitness accounts, the Indonesian government has claimed that Team 88 personnel were not involved in the arrest.
Any involvement by the US-funded Team 88, purportedly an anti-terrorism unit, is of particular concern for two reasons. In this case, the Indonesian police appear to be confusing dissent with terrorism, and Team 88 personnel have been credibly accused of torture, kidnapping and other fundamental violations of human rights.
We strongly urge that the United States Embassy in Jakarta closely monitor developments related to the arrest of Iwanggin Sabar Olif, especially to assure that he is not mistreated in detention and that he is not the victim of injustice.
More broadly, the United States Government should probe the ongoing crackdown targeting human rights defenders and religious leaders in West Papua with a view to pressing the Indonesian Government, and more specifically the security units acting in its name, to end the intimidation of human rights defenders. Among those targeted are: Alberth Rumbekwan, Chief of the Indonesia National Human Rights Commission for West Papua, human rights advocate Christian Warinussy of Manokwari, and Father John Jongga, a Catholic Priest in the Jayapura Diocese. Amnesty International, among other leading international human rights organizations have issued reports on this crackdown.
Finally, we remain deeply concerned by reports that the United States-supported Team 88 continues to violate fundamental human rights. This raises questions about the effectiveness of any human rights training which may accompany US assistance to Indonesia's security forces. Absent an end to these violations and punishment of those who have violated human rights, we urge an end to United States support for Team 88.
Sincerely,
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