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| Indonesian police arrest a Papuan protester in Jakarta in December 2015. Doc. RSF |
The authorities must respect the rights of journalists to freely
report events in West Papua (the western half of the island of New
Guinea) even when journalists are covering protests by the Papuan
population, RSF said in a statement.
After hundreds of protesters were arrested in various parts of the
city, they were assembled in a compound in front of the police mobile
brigade headquarters in Kotaraja, Jayapura, from which reporters who
wanted to cover their arrest were driven back by about 20 policemen
wielding wooden batons.
One of them said Police Commissioner Mathius Fakhiri had given them
specific instructions to prevent reporters from covering how the police
were treating the detainees, who were ordered to remove their clothes
and shoes while standing in the square.
Ardi Bayage, a journalist working for the
Suarapapua.com news website, was arrested at the same time as other
protesters although he showed his press card to the police. They
authorities, who accused him of lying, broke his mobile phone and took
him to the mobile brigade’s headquarters, where he was held for several
hours.
Benjamin Ismaïl, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk, said:
“We condemn this violence and censorship of local journalists, whose coverage of these demonstrations was in the public interest.
“President Joko Widodo’s promises now sound emptier that ever. After the recent banning of a French journalist who had been reporting in West Papua in a completely legal manner, we now have yet further evidence that the authorities continue to censor and control media coverage arbitrarily.”
The West Papuan authorities are still censoring all reporters
covering Papuan self-determination movements, and carrying out
discrimination and human rights violations.
In January, RSF condemned Indonesia’s ban on further visits by French journalist Cyril Payen, after France 24 broadcast a report by him from West Papua.
The authorities also target local journalists and fixers working for foreign journalists and those who act as their sources.
Abeth You, a journalist working for the
Tabloidjubi.com website, was attacked by police on 8 October 2015 while
covering a demonstration in Jayapura by a group called Solidarity for
Victims of Human Rights Violations in Papua. Police arrested and
questioned two fixers working for a French journalist.
Indonesia is ranked 130th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2016 World Press Freedom Index after its performance score fell by nearly a point from 2015.
Source : asiapacificreport.nz
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