Spanish tourist arrested at demonstration in West Papua
June 22, 2016
Spanish tourist Andreu Arino I Prats being arrested by Indonesian police for attending a demonstration in West Papua.
Last week a Spanish tourist was arrested by the Indonesian police in Port Numbay/Jayapura, West Papua for attending a Free West Papua rally on Wednesday 15th June.
On 15th June thousands of people in West Papua held rallies across the country and in several Indonesian cities to call for self-determination and for West Papua’s full membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).
The Indonesian police arrested over 1000 people for attending these peaceful demonstrations, including Andreu Arino I Prats, a Spanish national and student from Fisica University in Barcelona.
We fully condemn all the arrests of peaceful demonstrators in West Papua, including the arrest of Ariono I Prats who was just visiting West Papua to see for himself the real situation. This repression of freedom of expression shows the world that the Indonesian government does not genuinely respect human rights in West Papua. It also shows that the Indonesian government certainly does not want foreign tourists or the outside world to find out about the truth about what is happening in occupied West Papua and is prepared to arrest and silence the freedom of expression of anyone who does so.
The world needs to see that the Indonesian government continues to silence freedom of the people of West Papua and continues to restrict and arrest foreign tourists from finding out the real situation.
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