The Institute for Papuan Advocacy & Human Rights has questioned the involvement of Indonesian anti-terrorism police in last week's arrest of a Papuan human rights worker over mobile telephone text messaging.
Colleagues of Sabar Iwanggin say he was arrested in Jayapura by members of Indonesia's special anti-terrorism police branch, Detachment 88.
Police allege he distributed messages accusing Indonesia's President and other officials of planning to poison Papuans' water and food supply.
Mr Iwanggin has been moved to police custody in Jakarta where he is undergoing interrogation.
The Institutue's Mathew Jamieson says the reason for Mr Iwanggin's detention appears trivial while the intentions of the police remain unclear.
He says that the involvement of the Detachment 88 branch is also of concern.
"The Detachment 88 has been trained by the Australian government, and funded by Australia. The training's been funded by the US too and they've had a big involvement in it so it seems like an inappropriate use of anti-terror police to arrest human rights workers."
Mathew Jamieson
