Welcome to the Papua New Guinea Gossip Newsletter -- 16th December 2006

M E R R Y
C H R I S T M A S

The lawyers for Nelson Rumbiak and other accused West Papuans have been intimidated by the attorney general who has reported them to the police. The attorney general has accused the legal team of behavior that was insulting to the state.

Paula Makabory of the West Papuan human rights organisation, ELSHAM (Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy) says 'it seems there is no guarantee for human rights defenders or legal people in West Papua even though they are simply trying to defend people as is their right under the law'.

The lawyers have been defending accused Papuans who are being charged with involvement in the demonstrations which took place in Abepura in March of this year against the Freeport mine.

On Monday the 28 August, there was a hearing at the Jayapura district court in the case of three persons accused of being involved in the demonstration which took place on the 16 March in Abepura this year. After the accused were driven back to the prison they were met at the front gate of the prison by dozens of police officers in two trucks.

The police began to beat up Nelson Rumbiak, (who was with the accused). They struck him with a rattan stick on the head causing his face to swell. When he fell to the ground several policemen kicked him in the left rib while stamping on his body. He was badly wounded in the ribs. Several police then chased the three accused men into the prison. They also threatened to beat up prison officers who were trying to prevent the police from entering the prison. When the lawyers and parents of the accused men arrived shortly after this incident, the police fled in their vans.

AWPA welcomes articles for the newsletter on any issue in relation to West Papua. The reports in the newsletter are from the various email conferences on West Papua. AWPA appreciates any donations of support to help in its campaign work. Past newsletters can be found at http://www.zulenet.com/awpa/

Since our last update in June, there has been some good news. The Government's decision to deny asylum to David Wainggai (who had been denied refuge status by the Immigration Department on the grounds that he had the right to live in Japan), was overturned by the independent Refugee Review Tribunal at the end of July. The tribunal ruled that David Wainggai was owed protection by Australia under the terms of the refugee convention. The Government also dropped its proposed bill on 'tough new border-protection laws' when it realized that members of its own party would cross the floor in the Senate to vote with the opposition against it.