Media Release from Refugee Action Coalition Sydney

Yesterday at his press briefing, Immigration Minister, Scott Morrison, claimed that Australia had removed seven West Papuan asylum seekers to PNG last Friday on the basis of a 2003 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with PNG.

But that MoU only allows Australia to remove asylum seekers if they have been in PNG for more than seven days prior to their arrival in Australia.

The West Papuans repeatedly told Australian immigration officials that they had only been in PNG for two nights as they transited that country.

“It seems that the West Papuans have been unlawfully removed from Australia. The Minister has effectively kidnapped and refouled the West Papuan asylum seekers. Scott Morrison has sent these asylum seekers to danger,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.

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Media Release from Human Rights Law Centre

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been urged to use his first visit to Indonesia tomorrow to cast aside the wilful blindness previous Australian Governments have had when it comes to the serious human rights violations occurring a stone’s throw away in Indonesia’s Papua provinces.

The Human Rights Law Centre’s Director of Communications, Tom Clarke, said the arrival of seven asylum seekers from Indonesia’s troubled Papua provinces and their subsequent swift removal, should be a reminder of the expectation for Australia to provide human rights leadership in our region.

Read the full Media Release from Human Rights Law Centre

Seven West Papuan asylum seekers who fled Merauke after being persecuted for their involvement in a ceremonial handover of sacred water and ashes from Indigenous elders as part of the Freedom Flotilla, were deported to Port Moresby last night, 26^th September, 2013.

The group who arrived in Boigu Island in the Torres Strait on Tuesday night were to transported to Saibai Island before then being taken to Horne Island. The seven were denied requests for legal representation while on Horne Island. They were then told they would be flown to mainland Australia, but once already in flight they were told their destination was Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

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Six West Papuans have fled across the border to Australia after being hunted by Indonesian authorities for participating in a ceremonial handover of sacred water and ashes from Australian Indigenous Elders. They have been detained by Australian Immigration after reaching Boigu Island in Australia on Tuesday.

The peaceful ceremony was the culmination of the Freedom Flotilla from Australia to West Papua, and was intended as a symbolic reunification of the peoples and struggles of Indigenous West Papuans and Australians. However, it had to be conducted in secret after Indonesian authorities refused permission for the Australian participants to enter Indonesian waters and threatened to arrest or respond violently to their arrival.

Indonesian authorities also refused permission for Papuans to hold a welcoming ceremony for the Freedom Flotilla in their destination port of Merauke, where police and military surrounded the house of the welcoming committee’s chairman Jhon Wob. Despite this intimidation, a small ceremony was held later in the day at a remote beach, sending origami boats south towards the Australian mainland.

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Four West Papuan community leaders were arrested on Wednesday the 18^th of September, 2013 after sending a letter to the Biak police station informing them of a procession planned to welcome the sacred water and ashes delivered by the Freedom Flotilla, as well as to commemorate the 15^th anniversary of the Biak Massacre. The four remain in custody and may be charged with treason.

The four arrested are Piet Hein Manggaprouw, 56, Klemens Rumsarwir, 68, Yoris Berotabui, 36, and Yan Piet Mandibodibo, 30.

The men were held in separate cells and interrogated without being given food from 9am Wednesday the 18^th until midnight Thursday the 19^th of September, 2013. They have been threatened with charges of treason, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Federated Republic of West Papua (FRWP) Deputy Prime Minister, Frans Kapisa and Minister of Defence, Elieser Awom attended the recent cultural exchange with the Freedom Flotilla in which they received the sacred water and ashes as part of a ceremony of symbolic re-unification of the cultures and struggles of Indigenous Australians and West Papuan peoples. Kapisa and Awom intended to travel to Biak carrying the sacred offerings and the four men arrested were planning the welcoming on their arrival.

Frans Kapisa and Elieser Awom at Manokwarit Welcoming Ceremony 13th September 2013

Hundreds of people held a welcoming for the sacred water and ashes in Manokwari on the 13^th of September 2013 in a peaceful and jubilant celebration of Papuan culture.

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A number of events took place across West Papua today to celebrate the arrival of sacred water and fire from the Freedom Flotilla.

In the port city of Marauke, a planned community event which was to be attended by 17 tribes from around the region was stymied by authorities. The head of police and five intelligence officers hand delivered a letter to one of the organisers prohibiting any ceremonies for the reception of the Freedom Flotilla. Police and intelligence officers stationed themselves around the house of the organiser this morning, preventing it from taking place.

“The town was crippled by the combined forces of navy, police, State Intelligence Agency (BIN,) Kopasus and military who monitored the movement of ordinary people and the Flotilla organisers throughout the day.  Plan B was to escape in few vehicles to a safe location and travel by boat for few kilometres to a nearby beach and this is where the sacred ceremony was carried out,” explained Ronnie Kareni

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The Pog, flagship of the Freedom Flotilla has returned to Australian waters, following threats made by the Indonesian military and a successful cultural exchange between indigenous elders from Australian and West Papua.

The Pog had sailed along the border region between Australia, PNG, Indonesia, making repeated attempts to open a dialogue with the Indonesian navy. The non-violent nature of the action was reiterated in communications via SMS, phone calls, emails, letters and in person at the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra. However the Indonesian Navy had not respected calls to dialogue with the Freedom Flotilla, not acknowledged that the peaceful protest vessel was unarmed, and not ruled out force being used to turn the boat back.

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