ATIS RAMBO WENDA: INDONESIA POLICE ARREST, STRIP, TORTUR, AND PARADE A PEACEFUL WEST PAPUA LEADER BEFORE JAILING HIM

Indonesian police arrest, strip. torture and parade a peaceful West Papuan leader before jailing him

This man is Atis Wenda, a peaceful activist in West Papua (a country which is under illegal Indonesian occupation, just 250km North of Australia.
Atis was a member of the peaceful civil movement, the West Papua National Committee [KNPB] which is struggling for independence from Indonesia.

The Human Rights organisation, Papuans Behind Bars reports that "On 4 April 2013, at around 18:30 Papuan time, Atis Rambo Wenda was attacked by an unidentified man in Waena, Jayapura, causing him to faint. Waena police had arrived at the scene and brought both the assailant and Wenda to the Waena police station. The assailant was released from police custody 30 minutes later, but Wenda continued to be detained. When Wenda questioned the police decision to continue to detain him, police allegedly responded with brutality and tortured him. He was reportedly stabbed in the ears and hand with a bayonet and his legs were beaten with wooden planks. He was allegedly denied medical treatment for the injuries he sustained.

A report received from a local human rights investigator stated that throughout the interrogation process Wenda was denied access to legal counsel. He was charged under Article 170 of the Indonesian Criminal Code and was not accompanied by a lawyer during his trial. He was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment. The same report stated that Wenda had allegedly been targeted due to his frequent activity with the KNPB in organising peaceful demonstrations from 2010 to 2012. Wenda had also reportedly declined medical treatment in Abepura prison as he is fearful of potential abuse that he may suffer at the hands of the authorities, similar to the brutal treatment he previously endured in detention in Waena."

Atis has been released from prison but his life remains in danger as do the lives of all West Papuans under a brutal Indonesian occupation which has resulted in genocide with the deaths of over 500,000 Melanesian West Papuans. (about a third of the indigenous population).

Please help the West Papuan people in their struggle for self-determination and independence. Please visit www.freewestpapua.org for more information about West Papua and http://freewestpapua.org/take-action/ to find out how you can help.
Please help the West Papuan people in their struggle against oppression, racism and genocide before it is too late.

Thank you very much

Much of the information in his post was taken from www.papuansbehindbars.org