A leading Indonesian human rights advocate has noted increased intimidation of rights lawyers representing West Papuans.
Protest march in Jayapura against racism towards Papuans in Indonesia, 19 August 2019 Photo: Supplied
This comes amid a security forces crackdown in Papua following a surge of anti-racism and pro-independence protests and related unrest which left at least ten people dead.
Police have arrested over 80 Papuans for involvement in the protests, including some prominent independence activists.
IDN Times reports that the director of the Lokataru Law and Human Rights Office, Haris Azhar, has been collecting data on intimidation cases
He said there were a number of cases of criminalisation, intimidation and repression of legal advocates for those arrested or targeted.
This includes physical assaults, and mobilisation of mobs to intimidate advocates.
Mr Azhar cited as examples the recent demonstrations outside the Jakarta offices of the Legal Aid Institute and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence.
And according to the Jakarta Post, a number of those facing charges for staging the protests have been interrogated without access to lawyers.
Haris Azhar, the co-ordinatorof the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence, or KONTRAS. Photo: UCA News Agency
Furthermore, journalists covering these developments in Papua have also been targeted, with a Jakarta Post journalist in Papua last week reported to have had his house searched by paramilitary police.
Mr Azhar accused Indonesia's government of mismanaging developments in Papua with an authoritarian response that he warned would fail to address the core problems.
Indonesian rights lawyer denies West Papua incitement
An Indonesian human rights lawyer accused by police of inciting violence in West Papua has defended her name.
Earlier this month a police warrant was issued for Veronica Koman, who is in Australia, after police claimed she spread fake news online.
Indonesian authorities have blamed disinformation and Papuan independence activists for a recent wave of protests in the region.
But Ms Koman, who has defended Papuan independence activists in court, said the claims against her were fabricated.
In her first statement since being named a suspect on 4 September, she claimed that police have intimidated her family in Jakarta and falsely stated that Interpol was hunting her down.
Human rights lawyer Veronica Koman. Photo: Whens Tebay
Ms Koman said that last year, when she gave a series of public talks in Australia, Indonesian embassy staff intimidated her by taking pictures and recordings of the events.
"The embassy reported me to my scholarship institution, with the complaint that I was supporting separatism at the events. It disrupted my relationship with the institution and my masters study," she said.
Indonesian media reported police saying they had asked their Australian counterparts to bring Ms Koman to the Indonesian embassy in Australia on Friday and that if she didn't hand herself in to Indonesian authorities by September 18, they would issue an INTERPOL red notice for her.
The Irish rights group Front Line Defenders urged Indonesia to drop its case against Ms Koman.
"Front Line Defenders expresses grave concern at the escalating threats against and judicial harassment of Veronica Koman, which it believes is solely motivated by her peaceful and legitimate work in defence of human rights," it said in a statement on Friday.
Jayapura burning after protestors torched the Papuan provincial capital and other buildings, 29 August 2019 Photo: Supplied
The Dutch rights group Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L) and Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada said the charges against Ms Koman interfered with "the fundamental right to legal counsel for people whose human rights may have been violated by Indonesian security personnel".
Failing to condemn violence against lawyers "has a chilling effect on society," L4L executive director Sophie de Graaf wrote in a letter to Indonesian President Joko Widodo and several other Indonesian ministers and government agencies.