Papuan accuses Indons of genocide

The West Australian © Activist: Benny Wenda. Picture: Supplied

He escaped from prison while on murder and arson charges, spent two years on an international wanted list after Indonesian authorities alleged he was a terrorist and tomorrow he will arrive in Perth.

But West Papua independence movement leader Benny Wenda says Indonesian authorities - his accusers - are the ones guilty of terrible crimes.

He says they are the aggressors in a secret war of genocide being waged against his people less than 500km north of Australia.

Mr Wenda, who is on an international speaking tour to raise awareness about his people's fight for self-determination, said yesterday he was a peaceful political campaigner who was the victim of false allegations intended to silence him.

"They (Indonesia) always say that I am a criminal," he said.

"Actually, it's the other way around. Indonesia is the criminal. They illegally occupied my country and are killing my people."

Mr Wenda, 37, was arrested for murder and arson after allegedly inciting an attack on Indonesian police in 2000. But his Australian lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said the charges were politically motivated and unfounded. She said Mr Wenda was in a refugee camp in Papua New Guinea at the time of the attack.

"The prosecution was unable to produce any credible evidence," Ms Robinson said. "The judge accepted three witness statements from police from three people we could not identify and they were unable to bring to the courtroom."

In 2002, Mr Wenda escaped from jail through a ventilation shaft, crossed into PNG and went to Britain, which gave him political asylum.

In 2011, Interpol put him under a red flag notice after Indonesia added terrorism to the allegations against him. After a two-year legal battle, his name was cleared and the flag removed.

The catalyst for his activism came when, as a five-year-old in West Papua's central highlands, he allegedly saw Indonesian soldiers rape his aunts and brutally beat his mother.

"I tried to help my mum," he said. "Her face was bleeding right in front of my eyes. I couldn't do anything. I just cried."

Mr Wenda claims that since West Papua voted to become part of Indonesia in 1969 - a ballot he says was forced at gunpoint - authorities have killed about 500,000 West Papuans in their crackdown on separatists. He said many recent killings were by a squad of crack troops known as Detachment 88, who get support from Australia.

WA Greens senator Scott Ludlam, who will speak with Mr Wenda in Perth and echoed the Papuan leader's concerns about Australia's links to Detachment 88, said the people of West Papua had a legitimate claim to self-determination and should not be treated like criminals.

Amnesty International and the Australian Government have urged Indonesia to investigate alleged human rights abuses in Papuan provinces.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said Australia backed Indonesia's sovereignty over the Papuan provinces and that Detachment 88 received help from Australian Federal Police for investigations and forensic assistance.

Mr Wenda said he had never taken up arms for his cause and believed peaceful, political lobbying was the way forward.

"The world is changing," he said. "We don't have any power to resist through the gun.

"The powerful weapon is the peaceful way. The powerful weapon is the truth."

 

 Source: http://au.news.yahoo.com/

 

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Benny Wenda’s Freedom Tour a great success

by Catherine Delahunty

This week Benny Wenda from “Free West Papua’ and Jennifer Robinson of International lawyers for West Papua brought the “Freedom Tour” to Auckland and Wellington.

The Auckland day was hosted by the hard working “Indonesian Human Rights Committee.”

Wellington also went very well despite the lack of co-operation from the new Speaker David Carter and the predictable refusal to meet Benny Wenda from the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Jennifer Robinson and Benny Wenda at the media briefing

The media forum which was effectively banned from parliament was well attended and only a robot would have not have been moved by Benny Wenda’s story of his childhood under Indonesian military rule and his experiences in prison.

Benny also stole our hearts with his musical performance while Jennifer Robinson laid out the political and legal position with great clarity. The call for independence for West Papua is clearly a call for peaceful change and respect for all citizens.

The international legal case against the colonisation of West Papua is simple. The Indonesians justified their occupation by a bogus referendum of about 1000 people at the point of a gun, the United Nations stood by while West Papua was appropriated for gold, timber and empire by Indonesia.

The situation today remains a disaster with state violence, hunger, political killing and torture and no access by international media or the International Red Cross. Benny Wenda initiated the International parliamentarians for West Papua a group of which I am a proud member as arer number of Green MPs locally and internationally. He is relying on our solidarity to keep the pressure on Indonesian for a peaceful dialogue.

It was great having MPs Maryan Street and Hone Harawira supporting the Wellington visit and showing their commitment to this issue being brought to light despite the appalling decisions by the Speaker and the Minsiter of Foreign Affairs.

Mana leader Hone Harawira and Labour MP Maryan Street join Benny Wenda, Jennifer Robinson and Catherine Delahunty on parliament’s steps.

It was also great to meet Dominic Brown maker of the film “Forgotten Bird of Paradise” made undercover in West papua who is travelling with Benny Wenda.

With some serious media coverage this week I am hopeful more New Zealanders have now heard of the situation in  West Papua and will support the Green challenge to the Government to work for a peace dialogue between west Papuan leaders and the Indonesian Government.

 Source: http://blog.greens.org.nz/2013/02/13/

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Asian Human Rights Commission to call on UN over alleged torture in West Papua

Papuan freedom activist

The Asian Human Rights Commission says it is writing to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture about the arbitrary arrest and torture of seven West Papuans.

The arrests took place near Jayapura, the capital of Indonesia’s Papua province late last week.

The group of seven were stopped in traffic by police looking for two pro-independence activists.

The Commission says the Papuans were brought to the police station where they were further questioned on the whereabouts of the activists.

They were severely beaten, kicked and electrocuted before being five of them were released without charge the next day, with two reportedly still in police custody.

The Commission has called on Indonesian authorities to investigate and for medical assistance to be directed to the group who were arrested for the injuries they sustained.

News Content © Radio New Zealand International

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Leaks reveal it's past time to speak for West Papua

Jennifer Robinson Lawyer Wikileaks and West Papua

Having been unjustifiably targeted on the ''WikiLeaks Threat'' list in secret US documents leaked in February, I was somewhat surprised to be left off the Indonesian intelligence watch list leaked last month about West Papua. I mean, every man and Naomi Robson was on it. And I've been acting as lawyer to exiled Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda far longer than I've acted for Julian Assange.

Robson's listing was as much a damning indictment of the quality of Indonesian intelligence as a reflection of Indonesia's paranoia about journalists seeing West Papua. While Robson, in safari suit and lizard, was there to ''save'' a child from alleged cannibals rather than to expose human rights abuse by the Indonesian military or report on Papuans' aspirations for independence, she was arrested because that is exactly what she would have seen and - hopefully - reported.

The leaked documents also reveal the penetration of Indonesian surveillance on Papuans: everyone from teachers to taxi drivers is on the Kopassus payroll. I have first-hand experience of it. In 2002 I worked with advocate John Rumbiak (now in exile in the US) at Elsham, a Papuan human rights organisation. As an Australian exchange student at an Indonesian university, I had entry where journalists were denied - but it did not spare me from surveillance or intimidation.

One day I travelled to a remote village to translate for a German friend researching the impact of transmigration on indigenous Papuans. Escorted by an Indonesian priest who offered to ''help'', we were bemused by the robot-like positive responses to our questions. ''It's great,'' they said in unison, ''now we have rice and cigarettes.''

As we left, a woman walked close behind me and whispered - just out of earshot of our Indonesian escorts - ''if you want to hear the truth, come without the intel''.

Later that day I excused myself from the priest's home, saying I needed a walk. I made it only two blocks before being ushered into a Papuan home. ''Please help us. They rape and kill our people. Tell the world.''

Traumatised by the psychological warfare now revealed in the leaked documents, they drew me close to whisper. Their stories were unimaginable; I fought back tears.

After that I saw things anew. Plain-clothes intelligence officers posed as ojek (motorcycle taxi drivers) outside my house, watching who came and taking me wherever I went. Emails were read over my shoulder in internet cafes. Some Papuan friends refused to meet me in public because it attracted unwanted attention. Instead, they jumped over my back fence after dark.

Weeks later I was in court working with defence counsel on the trial of the then political prisoner and independence leader, Benny Wenda. As I left the court building plain-clothes police confronted me and took me in for questioning. I was threatened with deportation, grilled for my ''political'' activity in assisting the defence and released with a warning on condition I apologise to the chief of police.

The conflation of human rights and politics in Papua is not the sole realm of the Indonesian government. The Australian and US governments are equally guilty. I was also given a stern warning by an Australian diplomat that my human rights work risked ''becoming a political football'' for our government and that I was to ''keep [my] head down''. I soon learnt this was characteristic of the spineless and reactionary approach Australia takes to foreign policy on Papua. Similarly, a 2006 US embassy cable published by WikiLeaks condemns claims of genocide, gross human rights violations and environmental destruction in Papua as ''dramatic and vague''.

Rather than seeing human rights as a political nuisance and accusing advocates of embellishment, perhaps the US and Australia ought to push for access for international organisations and journalists so that claims can be properly investigated. In light of the recently leaked documents and the extent of human rights abuse, they should also reconsider military aid to Kopassus.

Judging by the furore over live cattle exports, it appears Australians care more about our cows than a million West Papuans being subjected to a slow-moving genocide. Stand up Naomi Robson (you may as well; you are already on the list). Stand up Australia. Let us see how long we can make Indonesia's next watch list and read it with pride when it turns up on WikiLeaks.

On Twitter: Jennifer Robinson is a human rights lawyer in London.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/

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Lawyer Jennifer Robinson blasts govt for refusing to let activist speak

Lawyer Jennifer Robinson

A leading human rights lawyer yesterday hit out at a decision banning a West Papua independence activist from speaking at Parliament.

Jennifer Robinson, a member of Julian Assange's defence team, is in New Zealand briefly with Benny Wenda, a leader of the self-determination campaign for West Papua, which is under Indonesian control.

Several MPs wanted Mr Wenda, who lives in exile in London, to speak at Parliament but the new Speaker, David Carter, refused the request.

He reconfirmed his decision yesterday despite a plea from Labour MP Maryan Street, who claimed the decision was made by the Government after advice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The Speaker's office said the request was declined because the function did not meet guidelines to using parliamentary facilities and hosting guests.

Mr Wenda was expected to speak about alleged human rights abuses in West Papua, and highlight NZ's military relationships with Indonesia.

Here Source News: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/

Miss Robinson said: "It raises very serious questions about the influence Indonesia has on the New Zealand Parliament and the New Zealand Government. To prevent somebody coming to speak - merely to speak and exercise their freedom of expression - in the New Zealand Parliament building of all places ought to be of grave concern to New Zealanders about the influence the Indonesians have in their domestic and foreign policy."

Miss Robinson did not know for certain whether Jakarta would have meddled in the decision, but it made New Zealand seem very reactive to Indonesia's position on hosting a West Papuan refugee. Mr Wenda will now speak today at a seminar at Victoria University on the independence struggle in West Papua.

An Australian, Miss Robinson is based in London and works for several human rights groups. She took part in Mr Wenda's 2002 trial for masterminding a fatal attack on a police station. During the case, Mr Wenda escaped from custody and eventually reached Britain, where he was granted political asylum. He is now a British citizen.

Since 2010, Miss Robinson has been part of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's legal team.

Yesterday she defended Assange's decision to remain holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, saying he faced a real risk of ending up in an American military prison if he left the diplomatic enclave.

There was no guarantee Sweden would not deliver him to the United States, where he could face the death penalty. Once in the US, there was every chance he could end up like alleged WikiLeaks whistle-blower and soldier Bradley Manning, who supporters claim has been subjected to degrading treatment in prison.

Miss Robinson also said she had no intention of abandoning Mr Assange, who has seen several high-profile supporters desert his cause.

The latest was the heiress and magazine editor Jemima Khan, who last Friday washed her hands of Mr Assange, comparing him to an "Australian L. Ron Hubbard" after the Scientology founder.

"We have grave concerns should he ever be returned," Miss Robinson said. Asked if she was hanging in with Mr Assange, she said: "Absolutely."

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Papua's "cry for freedom" unheard for 50 years - Wenda

Mr. Benny Wenda is an activist for the independence of West Papua from Indonesia.

He currently lives in Britain after being granted political aslyum in 2003 but has been unable the country because of an Interpol ' Red Notice' or arrest warrant sought by the Indonesian government.

That threat has now been lifted and Mr Wenda is on an international tour, talking to politicians and policy makers in the USA, New Zealand, Australia and Melanesia.

 Here Orginal News: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacific/news

Presenter:Geraldine Coutts

Speaker:Benny Wenda, West Papua independence activist

WENDA: That's Indonesia trying to because internationally telling the truth about what really happened, what's really going on and Indonesia tried to silence me two years ago.

 

COUTTS: Alright, you're on a tour, an international tour. What is your message in the countries where you're stopping?

 

WENDA: Yeah, I just carried a simple message. My people cry for freedom last 50 years and even internationally Indonesia is trying to silence me, because I think I was telling the truth and I carry the message of my people, because their world is ignoring them, so I think it's travelling that's raised the issue as well as telling the politician government here in New Zealand and Australia and some other Melanesian countries.

 

COUTTS: And was that as a result of the independent investigation by Fair Trials International that the Interpol 'Red Notice' initiated by the Indonesian Government was lifted?

 

WENDA: Yes, yes, yes, conclusion was that Indonesia just used political motivation to silence me. It is not only happening to me, but it to my people as well, because my people have been silenced for the last 50 years. So I think the time for the world to hear because of my trip to around the world.

 

COUTTS: What form did that Fair Trial International investigation take?

 

WENDA: Yeah, I think they the investigation was also there is a lot of eyewitness, including Jennifer Robertson, who is my lawyer. She's one of the also give testimony and arguments because she was in  a trial in West Papua, so that is a very strong case against Indonesian Government.

 

COUTTS: And other West Papuans, were they called, did they have their say at the trial as well at the investigation?

 

WENDA: No, only the just Fair Trial and Jennifer Robertson, they working together.

 

COUTTS: Well, what does it mean now? Does it actually allow you to go home?

 

WENDA: No, only this is because, only international, so I cannot go back to West Papua until I my people free and myself free and I will go back a free man.

 

COUTTS: You're not allowed to go back or it's self-imposed?

 

WENDA:  No, I cannot go back, because if I go back, I will be arrested and put in the prison. 

 

COUTTS: What are you hearing about what is actually happening in West Papua at the moment?

 

WENDA: West Papua it's really increasing. It's West Papua I call home of the military and that's why Indonesia now more military since the killing of the Michael Tabuni  and it's last year saw about 20 Papuan were killed, so this is more violence that is committed by the Indonesian military and police and this I call a Secret Genocide Committee by Indonesian government, police and military.

 

COUTTS: It's very difficult because of the censorship of the press, it's very difficult to get accurate and up to date information from West Papua. So how do you know what is going on and how reliable are you're sources?

 

WENDA: We are receiving 24 hours information, because in the day and night, we have people on the ground reporting. But because Indonesia able to clamp down on that area, like Amnesty International ban, Red Cross  are banned, peace brigade is banned and even media, international media, like every media are banned. 

 

Since Indonesia occupied, illegally occupied 1963 until today, Indonesia banned. So why Indonesia hiding, why Indonesia call it a democracy, and a moderate the country, then why not journalists allowed in to West Papua. That is the problem. Indonesia really why are they hiding for and that the simple question for the Indonesian Government.

 

COUTTS: Are you asking the countries that you're visiting, you're saying New Zealand, Australia and Melanesia to act on your behalf to a) allow you to go home and also to grant independence?

 

WENDA: Yes, my trip is simply asking for their support, for free my people and then I will go back a free man. Until my people not free, and I never go back and that might here in Melanesian as well as in New Zealand, Australia. Because West Papua is not Asia, it's Melanesian. They are, because Melanesian people are Micronesia, Polynesia. We are connected in the spirit as well as we are the Pacific, so this is the regional issue, so that's why it's an issue of West Papua never go away from mind of Australia and New Zealand, as of Melanesian country so that is a very important that we got my message to tell that, all the brothers and sisters in the Pacific.

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NZ opposition MPs criticise speaker’s move to ban West Papuan from parliament

Benny Wenda

The decision by New Zealand’s parliamentary speaker to bar a visiting West Papuan activist from speaking at parliament this week has met with criticism from opposition MPs.

The UK-based Benny Wenda is due in Wellington tomorrow to talk about the plight of the indigenous people of Indonesia’s troubled Papua region.

Speaker David Carter’s refusal stems from advice he says he received from government officials deeming the Wenda visit inappropriate.

The Green Party MP, Catherine Delahunty, says the refusal is disappointing.

And the Labour MP, Maryan Street, says cross-party events should not be dictated to by the level of sensitivity that a government feels about them.

“He is a representative of West Papuans. He is recognised internationally as that. He has been a guest of the UK parliament, the European Union parliament and a guest at the United Nations. Why can’t he be hosted at the New Zealand parliament even if the government does not agree with his position? Parliament is more than government. It’s government and opposition.”

Maryan Street

News Content © Radio New Zealand International

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West Papuan campaigner tells of life of struggle against Indonesian rule

Pacific Scoop News: Report – By the PMC news desk

West Papuan independence campaigner Benny Wenda spoke of his people’s harrowing five decades of struggle against Indonesian rule at a public meeting in Auckland last night.

Dressed in a ceremonial Papuan headdress, he was also joined by human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, a spokesperson for International Lawyers for West Papua, who spoke about Indonesian legal violations.

Members of the audience in Ponsonby’s St Columba community centre strongly condemned the New Zealand ban on Wenda from speaking at Parliament about the West Papuan plight.

Speaker David Carter reportedly said it’s “not appropriate” for Wenda to hold a public forum at Parliament. He gave no further explanation.

Wenda was stunned by the decision and told a Papua New Guinean journalist, Henry Yamo, who interviewed him at the Pacific Media Centre yesterday that the West Papuan issue was gaining wider attention globally.

Wenda was once arrested by Indonesian forces for promoting the independence of West Papua. He escaped jail a decade ago and was granted political asylum in the United Kingdom.

Speaker silent on decision

Freedom fighter blocked from NZ Parliament

West Papua’s ‘cry for freedom’

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