On 5 May 2025, around noon, 17-year-old Ivan Kabak, a student at SMK Yapesli Yahukimo, was arbitrarily detained by members of the Damai Cartenz Unit Police Unit in Dekai, Yahukimo Regency, Papua Pegunungan Province. According to the information received, the officers arrested Ivan Kabak concerning a roadside incident that had occurred on 3 May 2025. Ivan was coming back from working in the garden near Kali Wo with four friends, as a non-Papuan woman riding a motorcycle with her child panicked upon seeing them and fell into a roadside ditch. Ivan and other bystanders reportedly recorded the incident on their phones. Two days later, police officers arbitrarily arrested Ivan while he was walking home after receiving his graduation results.
Following his arrest, Ivan was accused by the Yahukimo Police of involvement in several unrelated violent incidents, including the murder of a medical worker and a teacher in Angguruk District in May 2025, and the killing of gold miners in Korowai in March/April 2025. Furthermore, authorities claimed that Ivan and his friends were throwing stones at the woman and her child, causing her to fall into the ditch. The police declared that Ivan would only be released if his four friends surrendered themselves, effectively using Ivan as a hostage. Ivan Kabak remained in detention without legal counsel (see photo on top, source: independent HRD).
The arrest sparked condemnation from civil society and human rights defenders, calling for Ivan’s immediate and unconditional release. On 17 May 2025, the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) issued a public statement, condemning the arrest and demanding police accountability.
