TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsJokowi urged to free all political prisoners
President Joko âJokowiâ Widodoâs decision to grant clemency to five Papuan prisoners ignores dozens of other political prisoners who remain behind bars in Papua and the Maluku Islands, a New York-based rights groups says
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
P
resident Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's decision to grant clemency to five Papuan prisoners ignores dozens of other political prisoners who remain behind bars in Papua and the Maluku Islands, a New York-based rights groups says.
Human Rights Watch Asia deputy director Phelim Kine said the release of five prisoners raised hopes that political prisoners still being held would be freed.
'The Indonesian government should release all political prisoners with an immediate presidential amnesty rather than demand prisoners admit 'guilt' for convictions that violated their basic human rights,' he said in a statement on Saturday.
President Jokowi announced clemency for Apotnalogolik Lokobal, Numbungga Telenggen, Kimanus Wenda, Linus Hiluka, and Jefrai Murib while on a visit to Papua's provincial capital of Jayapura on Saturday. The five men were serving prison terms ranging from 19 years and 10 months to life imprisonment after a Wamena court convicted them in 2003 for their role in a raid on an Indonesian Military (TNI) weapons arsenal in Wamena on April 4, 2003, that resulted in the deaths of two soldiers. The five Papuans were released during the President's visit to Jayapura's Abepura Prison.
HRW said only Telenggen and Murib, who were sentenced to life, were involved in the raid, while the other three were arrested because of their separatist views.
The NGO Papuans Behind Bars lists a total of 38 Papuans that are imprisoned, detained, on trial, or awaiting trial on charges that violate their freedom of expression and association. There are an estimated 29 other political prisoners in the Maluku Islands, according to the Ambon-based Tamasu human rights group. (ebf)
