14 Aug 2017

Majority of known Papuan political prisoners 'now freed'

11:35 am on 14 August 2017

Human Rights Watch says Indonesia's government has freed the majority of political prisoners in its Papuan provinces.

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Photo: RNZI

According to the NGO, there are now no more than six Papuan political prisoners behind bars compared to a tally of 37 at the end of August 2016.

It said the exact number of prisoners was uncertain as the Ministry of Law and Human Rights has declined to respond to a request for an official total.

But the NGO's Indonesia researcher Andreas Harsono said his sources travelled to all of the major prisons in Papua and West Papua to collate the data and their figures were reliable.

"I want to know if there is one single case that the police can resolve. I've been covering West Papua since 1996 - 20 years now, and I have never seen, i have never seen a single human rights case resolved thoroughly, never."

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