17 Papuan activists stage hunger strike

17 Papuan activists stage hunger strike

JAYAPURA: Seventeen activists grouped in the Papuan Solidarity
for Abepura group continued their hunger strike on Wednesday as
part of the efforts to seek justice for the victims of the
Abepura incident.

The protesters, who have been on hunger strike for three
consecutive days, have rolled out their mats in front of the
Papua legislative council building and unfurled banners demanding
that a human rights tribunal in Makassar, South Sulawesi, imposes
the severest possible sentences on those responsible for the
alleged rights violations in Abepura.

The Makassar tribunal is slated to hand down its verdict on
Thursday and Friday on the two defendants in the case -- the then
commander of the Jayapura Police's Mobile Brigade unit, Brig.
Gen. Johny Wainal Usman, and the then Jayapura Municipal Police
chief, Adj. Sr. Comr. Daud Sihombing.

The two are charged with command responsibility for human
rights violations in Abepura town, which is near Jayapura, on
December 7, 2000. The rights violations were allegedly committed
by their subordinates during searches in an Abepura neighborhood
after local residents attacked and set fire to an Abepura police
subprecinct headquarters. Three Papuans were killed as police
officers rampaged through the area. -- JP