Summary

Over the past four months,eleven West Papuan people have become political prisoners. The case profiles below are listed in chronological order of when they were arrested between March to June 2018. All charges listed are referenced in the Indonesian Criminal Code unless otherwise noted. A full list of articles with brief descriptions are listed at the bottom of the report.

The first three political prisoners listed are members of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB). They were arrested together for beating two unknown men at their secretariat. The case might look like ordinary criminal case on first glance. However, we believe that the incident reflects some political aspect. The KNPB headquarter is known as a “hot spot” in Jayapura. People usually feel reluctant to pass the area, let alone enter, because of the stigma and heavy monitoring by security forces. Therefore, it is suspicious that two ‘medicine sellers’ would randomly come to visit and not leave when requested. Criminalisation against KNPB members in connection to assault, arms possession, theft, etc. is common, and often used by security forces as a tactic to offer a counter narrative to politically-motivated arrests.

The arrests of the other eight people show that there has been crackdown against freedom fighters and civilians who are thought to be freedom fighters of the West Papua Liberation Army (TPNPB). The TPNPB declared war against Indonesian security forces in August 2017 in Tembagapura, Timika. The recent arrests include those in Timika, Nabire, Mulia, and Wamena. Titus Kwalik and Julianus Dekme might have been arrested by the anti-terror squad Detachment 88, based on the description that the police were wearing “all blacks”, colours associated with this Special Forces policing unit. This is very problematic because, by law, neither civilians nor freedom fighters should be handled by a National anti-terror squad.

Police violated the domestic procedural criminal law in all cases, mainly regarding the obligation to provide letters of arrest and detention. Ill treatment was also present in cases involving people thought to be freedom fighters.

More political prisoners are anticipated in coming months because the continuing stand-off between TPNPB and Indonesian security forces, particularly in the area of Timika.

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