London studies asylum for East Timor youths
London studies asylum for East Timor youths
JAKARTA (JP): The British government is studying the possibility of asylum for five East Timorese youths who filed their request at the British Embassy in Jakarta, an embassy official said yesterday.
"Yes, it has been sent," Eric Jones, First Secretary at the embassy, told The Jakarta Post by phone last night when asked if the request for asylum had been sent to London. However he could not predict how long it would take for London to respond.
In London, a spokesman for the Foreign Office confirmed that Britain had received the application, Reuters reported.
The five East Timorese were identified by the news agency as Joaquim Antonio Alim, 24, Antonia Batista Sequeira, 24, Egas Soares, 25, Nelson Turquel, 22, and Timotio Jose Fernandes, 23.
Jones explained that the five were staying in the reception area where they had access to water.
The five men entered the main embassy building at about midday telling security guards that they were looking for information on Britain. They then asked for asylum.
They said they had applied for asylum because they feared repercussions from the authorities for their support of a separate East Timor state.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday were in constant touch with the British embassy over the matter, Antara reported last night quoting Director of Foreign Information Irawan Abidin.
Irawan said the five men clearly did not qualify for political asylum. "They're not political fugitives and they have not been living under persecuted," he was quoted as saying.
One of the five men told international news agencies that he had organized or taken part in a series of demonstrations and that the others were members of clandestine network. Three of them said they took part in the demonstration at the Santa Cruz cemetery in November, 1991, when at least 50 people were killed when protesters clashed with soldiers.
This is the third time since July 1993 that East Timorese youths have gone to foreign embassies in Jakarta seeking asylum. Seven men spent several weeks at Swedish and Finnish embassies in July 1993 before gaining asylum in Portugal.
Last November, 29 youths won asylum in Portugal after occupying the parking lot of the American embassy for several days. (emb/mds)