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Indonesia: One student released, other still detained
Amnesty International Urgent Action - August 29, 2014
One of the two Papuan students tortured or otherwise ill-treated by police has been released. The other is still in detention and has been charged for his peaceful political activism in Indonesia's West Papua province.
Robert Yelemaken, a 16-year-old high school student, was released on 18 August from the Manokwari District Police Station and police have dropped charges against him. However, 21-year-old university student Oni Wea is still in detention and has been charged with "incitement". Both students were given access to a lawyer on 14 August. However, Oni Wea has yet to receive medical treatment for the torture and other ill-treatment he suffered.
Both the students, activists from the pro-independence West Papua National Committee (Komite Nasional Papua Barat, KNPB), were arrested on 8 August in Manokwari district for painting pro-independence graffiti including calls for an independence referendum for Papua. They were tortured and otherwise ill-treated by the police during arrest and detention and were held in a prison cell at the Manokwari District Police Station. Police hit them on the face and head with a rifle butt and kicked them. Both were forced to roll in a sewer filled with dirty water and to drink paint. The beatings continued while they were in detention.
Amnesty International considers Oni Wea a prisoner of conscience. There has been no independent investigation into the students' allegations of torture and other ill-treatment
Please write immediately in Indonesian, English or your own language:
Papua Regional Head of Police
Jotje Mende
Jl. Samratulangi No. 8 Jayapura
Papua, Indonesia
Fax: +62 967 531014/+62
967 533396
Salutation: Dear Brigadier
General
Director General for Human
Rights
Harkristuti Harkrisnowo
Ministry of Law and Human
Rights
Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said Kav
No. 4-5
Kuningan, Jakarta Selatan
12950
Indonesia
Fax: +62 215 253095
Salutation: Dear Harkristuti
Harkrisnowo
And copies to:
Commission Secretary
Drs. Logan Siagian
National Police Commission
Jalan Tirtayasa VII
Nomor 20, Kebayoran Baru,
Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia
Fax: +62 217 392315
Email: skm@kompolnas.go.id?
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:
Name
Address 1
Address 2
Address 3
Fax Fax number
Email Email address
Salutation Salutation
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the first update of UA 199/14. Further information: http://amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA21/020/2014/en
Additional Information
Indonesia's Constitution and national legislation guarantees freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. However, legislation is regularly used to criminalize peaceful political activities and to imprison people solely for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, conscience and religion.
Dozens of peaceful political activists are in prison in the Papuan region (provinces of Papua and West Papua), some sentenced to as long as 20 years, for attending, organizing or participating in peaceful political activities or protests, or possessing, raising or waving the prohibited pro-independence "Morning Star" flag of Papua. Many of those arrested have been charged with "rebellion" (makar) under Articles 106 and 110 (crimes against the security of the state) of Indonesia's Criminal Code.
Amnesty International takes no position whatsoever on the political status of any province of Indonesia, including calls for independence. However, the organization believes that the right to freedom of expression includes the right to peacefully advocate referendums, independence or other political solutions.
The organization has received credible reports of unlawful killings and unnecessary and excessive use of force and firearms by both police and military personnel during peaceful pro-independence protests and gatherings. The government has consistently failed to make a distinction between violent armed groups and peaceful activists. Political activists and others accused of links to pro-independence groups have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated during arrest and detention. Accountability for such acts is rare, and at most security personnel receive disciplinary sanctions.
Amnesty International has also documented the use of excessive force and firearms as well as torture and other ill-treatment against peaceful activists by the Indonesian security forces. International human rights observers, non-governmental organizations and journalists are severely restricted in their access to Papua, contributing to a climate of impunity there. The Indonesian security forces have a track record of committing human rights violations in the Papuan region with near impunity.
One of the reasons cases of torture and other ill-treatment continue to occur in Indonesia is the failure to revise the Indonesian Criminal Code to criminalize acts of torture. In 2008, the UN Committee Against Torture called on the Indonesian government to revise the Criminal Code to incorporate the crime of torture consistent with the definition in Article 1.1 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and to ensure that all acts of torture are punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature. The Criminal Code has been under revision for about three decades.
Under international law, anyone under the age of 18 is a child; and children suspected of a criminal offence should be treated according to the rules of juvenile justice. Principles of juvenile justice include: detention or imprisonment only as a measure of last resort – under regular review and for the shortest appropriate time – and a commitment to the use of alternatives to detention whenever possible; prohibition of solitary confinement; separation of children in detention facilities from adult detainees; and attention to the particular needs of children in custody.
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