Monday, October 26, 2009
NEWS FROM PAPUA!!!!
she is living with her mother and father in a camp in Papua, and apparently slapped one of the guards when he was being rude and aggressive to her.
We are all SO SO SO happy to hear this great news, coming up the year anniversary of the coerced repatriation of Anike and Yunus.
WE LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH AND ARE SO HAPPY TO HEAR YOU ARE ALIVE AND WELL !!!!
STAY STRONG.
LOVE FROM ALL YOUR FRIENDS IN AUSTRALIA.
XOOOXOXOXOXOXOXXOOXXO
OXOXOXOOXOXOX
XOXOXOXOX
Friday, January 16, 2009
Syndey Morning Herald Reports.....
Indonesia jails 11 Papuans over flag
A court in Indonesia's remote Papua region has jailed 11 activists for subversion after they raised the region's banned independence flag.
Prominent activist Jack Wanggai was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison and 10 others were given three years over peaceful protests in March 2007, said lawyer Yan Christian Warinussy.
The sentences were increased by the High Court in the Papua provincial capital Jayapura on Thursday after prosecutors in Manokwari city, where the protests took place, appealed against the decision of a lower court to jail the activists for eight months each, Warinussy said.
"The activists were carrying out peaceful demonstrations ... and they brought the Morning Star flag," he said.
"The court said that if it didn't deal with this case harshly then it will set a bad precedent for all of Papua."
He said the defendants planned to appeal to Indonesia's Supreme Court.
Separatist sentiment runs deep in Papua, which lies on the western end of New Guinea island and was incorporated into Indonesia after a 1969 UN-sponsored vote of select tribal elders widely dismissed as a sham.
Displaying banned separatist symbols such as flags in Indonesia can lead to sentences up to life in prison.
http://news.smh.com.au/world/indonesia-jails-11-papuans-over-flag-20090109-7dka.html
Saturday, January 10, 2009
ABC reports
Concerns for 7yo asylum seeker forced back to Indonesia
Posted Thu Jan 8, 2009 6:42pm AEDT
There are concerns for the health of a seven-year-old girl who was forced to return to Indonesia in November last year after being granted political asylum in Australia.
Anike Wainggai was taken back to Papua Province by her father.
She and her father, Yunus Wainggai, were two of more than 40 asylum seekers who caused a diplomatic storm after they were granted refugee status in 2006.
But last November Mr Wainggai took his daughter home after negotiating assistance from the Indonesian Embassy.
Friends say they fear he was coerced.
A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith says he asked the Indonesian ambassador to ensure transparency in the repatriation, but would not comment further on the nature of the discussion, or if Mr Smith was happy with the response.
Now a group of Anike's Australian friends say the seven-year-old is upset and unwell, and that her family is not enjoying the usual level of community support.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/08/2461937.htm