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Rebel demands release of prisoners
AMBON, Maluku: Former judicative branch leader of the Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM), Semuel Waileruny, demanded that all sedition prisoners related to the South Maluku Republic (RMS) be released
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MBON, Maluku: Former judicative branch leader of the Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM), Semuel Waileruny, demanded that all sedition prisoners related to the South Maluku Republic (RMS) be released.
The demand was made Thursday following a public statement issued by Amnesty International on Dec. 17 saying that there had been a restriction of freedom of expression in Maluku.
"The Indonesian government must pay attention to this. Amnesty International conducted an investigation in November and requested the government release all prisoners," he told The Jakarta Post.
"These people were only exercising their rights to express their opinions and gather peacefully."
Semuel was jailed for three-and-a-half years for sedition and currently acts as a lawyer for 22 RMS separatists who performed the cakalele war dance while waving a RMS flag in front of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on June 29, 2007.
"Waving the flag was not an act of sedition because there was no attack at all; the flag itself is not a symbol of separatism," Semuel said. -- JP
