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RI expected to release more Papuan political prisoners
Raising hopes: Human Rights Watch, a rights group based in New York, has praised the Indonesian governmentâs recent move to release Papuan pro-independence activist Filep Karma (pictured), 56, and has called for the release of more than 60 other political prisoners currently held in Papua and the Maluku Islands
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Raising hopes: Human Rights Watch, a rights group based in New York, has praised the Indonesian governmentâs recent move to release Papuan pro-independence activist Filep Karma (pictured), 56, and has called for the release of more than 60 other political prisoners currently held in Papua and the Maluku Islands. (Courtesy of amnesty.org.uk) (pictured), 56, and has called for the release of more than 60 other political prisoners currently held in Papua and the Maluku Islands. (Courtesy of amnesty.org.uk)
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span class="caption">Raising hopes: Human Rights Watch, a rights group based in New York, has praised the Indonesian government's recent move to release Papuan pro-independence activist Filep Karma (pictured), 56, and has called for the release of more than 60 other political prisoners currently held in Papua and the Maluku Islands. (Courtesy of amnesty.org.uk)
Rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has praised an Indonesian government move to release Papuan political prisoner Filep Karma, who has spent 11 years behind bars for raising the Morning Star flag, a West Papua independence symbol.
'This raises hopes that others arrested for exercising their rights to free expression and association in Indonesia may also be released,' HRW deputy Asia director Phelim Kine said in a statement on Monday.
Originally sentenced to 15 years in prison, Karma was released on Nov. 19 thanks to remissions he received.
HRW noted that in November 2011, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called Filep a political prisoner and asked the Indonesian government to release him 'immediately and unconditionally', but the latter rejected the recommendation.
'Some hope that President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's willingness to release Karma shows that his government may finally make meaningful moves to empty Indonesian prisons of the dozens of other political prisoners [they hold],' said Kine.
During a visit to Jayapura, Papua, in May, President Jokowi announced clemency for five Papuan political prisoners. However, NGO Papuans Behind Bars lists a total of 38 Papuans who are currently locked up or awaiting trial on charges that violate their freedom of expression and association.
Meanwhile, the Tamasu human rights group reports that there are an estimated 29 political prisoners in the Maluku Islands.
HRW says most political prisoners in Indonesia were convicted of makar (rebellion or treason). Both the Papuan Morning Star flag and the Benang Raja (rainbow) flag of the Republic of South Maluku (RMS) are banned, along with other symbols, flags and logos that relate to separatist movements, it says.
'Jokowi should make the release of all of Indonesia's remaining political prisoners a political priority,' Kine said.
'Until he does, every one of those political prisoners makes a mockery of Indonesia's claim to be a rights-respecting nation,' he declared. (ebf)(+)
