In the same video incident, two other Papuan men, Warinus Murib and Alianus Murib, were also arrested and allegedly tortured. Warinus Murib died of his injuries.
Reports state that 62 protesting students have been arrested and interrogated before they were released, while two people were seriously injured by Indonesian security forces.
In an earlier protest, 15 people were arrested for giving out pamphlets. Protesters demand all military operations must cease in West Papua.
“We condemn the excessive military presence in West Papua and the associated human rights violation against Papuans,” said the PANG statement. “We also condemn the use of heavy-handed tactics by the Indonesian police to violently assault and detain students who should have the right and freedom to express their views. This demonstrates yet again the ongoing oppression by Indonesian authorities in West Papua despite decades of official denial and media censorship.”
United Nations experts have expressed serious concerns about the deteriorating human rights situation in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua, citing shocking abuses against indigenous Papuans, including child killings, disappearances, torture and mass displacement of people.
In its concluding observations of Indonesia’s second periodic report under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted on 26 March 2024, the Human Rights Committee expressed deep concern over: patterns of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and other forms of cruel and degrading treatment, particularly of or against indigenous Papuans and the failure to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions.
The committee also highlighted continuing reports of media censorship and suppression of the freedom of expression....
“There must be a sharp reflection on the placement of security forces in the land of Papua which has given rise to people falling victim, both indigenous Papuans, non-Papuans, including the security forces themselves”, he said.
Earlier, a short video containing an act of torture by TNI members went viral on social media. It shows a civilian who has been placed in an oil drum filled with water being tortured by members of the TNI.
TNI Information Centre director (kapuspen) Major-General Nugraha Gumilar has revealed the identity of the person being tortured by the soldiers as allegedly being a member of a pro-independence resistance group — described by Indonesia as an “armed criminal group (KKB)” — named Definus Kogoya.
“The rogue TNI soldiers committed acts of violence against a prisoner, a KKB member by the name of Definus Kogoya at the Gome Post in Puncak Regency, Papua,” he said when sought for confirmation on Saturday.
Despite this, General Gumilar has still has not revealed any further information about the identity of the TNI members who committed the torture. He confirmed only that more than one member was involved in the abuse.
He said an “intensive examination” was still being conducted and he pledged it would be transparent and act firmly against all of the accused torturers.
“Later I will convey [more information] after the investigation is finished, what is clear is that it was more than one person if you see from the video”, he said.
A West Papuan pro-independence leader has accused Indonesia of new human rights atrocities this week while the republic has apparently elected a new president with a past record of violations in Timor-Leste and West Papua.
Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto has declared victory in the presidential election on Wednesday after unofficial vote counts showed him with a significant lead over his rivals, reports Al Jazeera.
The 72-year-old former Kopassus special forces commander, who had run unsuccessfully for president twice before, was given a dishonourable discharge in 1998 after claims that his force kidnapped and tortured political opponents of Soeharto as his regime crumbled....
"But Indonesian hypocrisy on Palestine cannot be ignored. They are bringing a legal case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) about Israel’s occupation of Palestine while intensifying their own brutal and bloody military occupation of West Papua.
“They are supporting South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the ICJ while conducting their own genocide in West Papua. They are crying about Palestinians’ right to self-determination while continuing to deny West Papuans that same right.”
More than 500,000 West Papuans have been killed since the occupation began in 1963, says the ULMWP.
In the past six years, more than 100,000 Papuans were estimated to have been displaced, made refugees in their own land as a result of Indonesian military operations.
“Genocide, ecocide, and ethnic cleansing — West Papuans are victims of all three. The world must pay attention to our plight.”
There were no reports of reaction from the Jakarta authorities.
According to a statement released by Marape’s office, he revealed that he “abstained” from supporting the West Papuan bid to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group Leaders’ Summit held in Port Vila, Vanuatu, last month because the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) “does not meet the requirements of a fully-fledged sovereign nation”.
However, on Saturday, his office again released a statement, saying that the statement released two days earlier had been “released without consent” and that it “wrongfully” said that he had abstained on the West Papua issue.
“Papua New Guinea never abstained from West Papua matters at the MSG meeting,” he said.
He said PNG “offered solutions that affirmed Indonesian sovereignty over her territories”, adding that “at the same time [PNG] supported the collective MSG position to back the Pacific Islands Forum Resolution of 2019 on United Nations to assess if there are human right abuses in West Papua and Papua provinces of Indonesia.”
Marape said PNG stressed to President Widodo its respect for Indonesian sovereignty and their territorial rights.
“But on matters of human rights, I pointed out the collective Melanesian and Pacific resolutions for the United Nations to be allowed to ascertain [human rights] allegations.”
According to Marape the four MSG leaders have agreed to visit the Indonesian President “at his convenience to discuss this matter”.
The demonstrators called on the international community to review the agreement and take action to end ongoing violence and repression in the region, said the report.
“In fact, they only held peaceful demonstrations,” said Gobay, who joined one of the rallies.
He stated that more than 20 people were beaten, with one of them later being treated in hospital. “One person was seriously injured and was immediately transported to the hospital for treatment,” he said.
Videos and photos obtained by UCA News showed police attacked with water canons and fired tear gas while people were listening to speeches from leaders of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), the protest organiser.
Gobay said that although the authorities viewed the KNPB as a “separatist — pro-independence — group “they should have the right to express their opinion” as guaranteed in the nation’s constitution.
“Moreover, they submitted an official letter notifying police about the programme beforehand,” he added. He condemned the use of water cannon and tear gas on demonstrators.These should only be for anarchic demonstrations — “not peaceful demonstrations,” he said....
Gobay alleged that police committed criminal offences by torturing and beating protesters, and called on the Papuan police chief to immediately prosecute the perpetrators so that there was a deterrent effect, said the UCA News report.
Father Bernard Baru from the Jayapura Diocese’s Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission said that this repressive action was a repetition of the discriminatory treatment of Papuans by the state....
The KNPB simultaneously held demonstrations in Papua and in other parts of Indonesia, asking the United Nations to review the 1962 New York Agreement.
During the rallies, KNPB leaders called the New York Agreement “a violation of human rights of Papuans” sponsored by Indonesia, the Netherlands and the United States and the United Nations.
As per the agreement, later added to the agenda of UN General Assembly, the Netherlands agreed to transfer the control of West Papua New Guinea to Indonesia, pending an UN-administered referendum.
The Papuans were not party to the agreement and it paved the way for the 1969 Act of Free Choice, an independence referendum favoring Indonesian rule in Papua whuch was largely regarded as a sham.
Indonesia’s annexation of Papua and use to force to crush dissent sparked an armed pro-indeoendence movement.
Thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels have been killed and tens of thousands have been displaced due to the conflict in the easternmost region in the past decades.
The researchers also allege that the security forces used bombs and rockets fired by helicopters and drones in the Indonesian attacks.
An estimated 2000 people were forced to flee into the forest and have remained in bush camps ever since, fearful of returning to their homes.
“From 10 October 2021, there have been ongoing attacks on the Ngalum Kupel community by the Indonesian National Armed Forces,” said the researchers, documentary filmmaker Kristo Langker, and Matthew Jamieson of the PNG Trust.
“The continued aggravated attacks by Indonesian military forces and apparent complicity of Indonesian authorities have profoundly impacted on the community [until] July 2023.
“The Ngalum Kupel people have evidence that the Indonesian National Armed Forces are targeting the whole of the Ngalum Kupel community with modified Krusik
mortars and Thales FZ 68 rockets.”
The military aerial attacks were reported to have targeted a series of villages which are adjacent north and northwest of Kiwirok, the regional and administrative centre.This includes the Kiwi Mission station....
“The witnesses collected shrapnel and bombs from the initial series of attacks, bringing this evidence to Tumolbil in PNG,” the report said.
“The shrapnel and bombs collected indicate that Thales FZ 68 rockets and modified Krusik mortars were used as the munitions in the military aerial attacks. The witness accounts detail the Indonesian military forces using a drone/UAV armed with modified Krusik mortars, Thales rocket FZ 68 weapon systems and military attack helicopters against an Indigenous community.”
The report authors concluded that the Indonesia National Armed Forces — which were
understood to be equipped with Airbus Fennec attack helicopters and Thales
rockets systems — were “likely responsible for the helicopter components of the attacks.”
Chief executive officer Vani Catanasiga highlighted this while responding to Attorney-General Siromi Turaga’s revelation at the Lomaiviti Provincial Council meeting last week that schoolchildren were being used to peddle the highly addictive illegal drug methamphetamine, commonly known as “ice”.
She said a concerted and coordinated approach was needed to tackle this issue.
If the issue was not resolved, there could be a drop in education attainment rates and pressure on national social services systems, she added.
Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma president Reverend Ili Vunisuwai said poverty was the root cause of the problem.
He said the issue was serious and the government, church and vanua should come together to solve the issue.
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