Police officers arrested Mr Roy Marten Howay in his parent’s house in the Wania District, Mimika Regency, on 8 October 2022. Mr Howay is accused of being involved in the mutilation of four indigenous Papuans in the Town of Timika on 22 August 2022.
Members of the Jayawijaya District Police arbitrarily arrested two Papuans from the Nduga regency, Papua Province. Mr Titus Koranue and Mr Yance Kerebea have been detained at the Jayawijaya District police station since late June 2022. The police have not explained the reason for the arrest but stated both men were “secured to prevent unwanted things from happening“.
On 8 June 2022, Papuan and non-Papuan students in Makassar, Sulawesi Selatan Province, were prevented and attacked by members of a militant group as they wanted to protest against the formation of new provinces in West Papua. As the students wanted to leave the dormitory, BMI members attacked them injuring five students.
Five Police officers have been alleged of beating up a 17-year-old boy with the initials GIS in the town of Manokwari, Papua Barat Regency, on 15 May 2022. The boy sustained bruises on the face and the body. The incident was recorded on video which quickly spread on social media.
On 21 April 2022, judges of the Jayapura District Court have found seven indigenous Papuans guilty of treason and sentenced them to ten months imrisonment.
Members of the Quari Atas Yonif R 431/SSP military post in the Kenyam Distrct, Nduga regency allegedly tortured a 40-year-old high school teacher, Mr Musa Nawipa on 27 April 2022. According to information received from local sources, the military personnel tortured Mr Nawipa inside the military post for one day until he succumbed to the injuries sustained as a result of the torture.
On 13 April 2022, Brigadier AK, a police member of the Mimika District Police, attacked a street vendor, Mr Taman, as he was selling food in front of the SMAN 1 Timika high school. Mr Taman sustained bruises around the right eye and a cut on the lips as a result of the torture. The incident was recorded on camera and later went viral on social media.
On 1 October 2022, the chaos that ended in tragedy took over the stadium after a football competition between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya at Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang, East Java. As a result of the incident, as of 5 October 2022, 131 people were reported dead and hundreds injured. Thirty-four people died inside the stadium; the remaining victims died in the hospital. This has been, so far, the darkest football tragedy in the history of Indonesian football. The police response to the crowd unrest has raised questions about this tragedy’s human rights violations.
Masril Ardi, a man from Pekanbaru, Riau Province, was arrested by the Cyber Team of the Metro Jaya Regional Police (Polda Metro Jaya) on 31 July 2022, at his home on Hang Tuah Street, Tenayan Raya District, Pekanbaru City. He was arrested for posting on his TikTok social media account. Masril posted about “Orang-orang pilihan Sambo” (Sambo’s chosen people). Masril gave the hashtag #BerantasJudiOnline (#fight online gambling) in the post. The Sambo case is a high-profile one. It has caught the public’s attention since July 2022. Inspector General Ferdy Sambo is the Head of the Professional and Security Division (Kadiv Propam Polri) and is the main suspect in the murder of his aide Brigadier J.
Military members gunned down an indigenous Papuan, Mr Frengki Nauw, in front of the Mare district military command, Maybrat Regency. Prior to the shooting, Mr Nauw was attacked and beaten by an intoxicated villager and ran to the nearby military post to get to safety.
On 23 August 2022 the Head of Ternate District Prosecutor’s Office (Kajari), Abdullah Fatah, demanded that Maharani Carolina, a female lawyer in Ternate, apologise publicly for her posts on her Facebook account, Namaku Ranigila (my name is crazy Rany). The posts criticised the handling of the drug case involving Stephanus Peter Imanuel (Steven) by the Ternate District Prosecutor’s office and the North Maluku High Prosecutor.
On 8 April 2022, around 11:00 pm, police officers of the Jayapura city police carried out a house search in the Buper area of the Heram District in Jayapura City. The residents, most of them Papuan students, had just finished a traditional cooking ceremony as a group of police officers equipped with automatic machine guns and bullet-proof vests approached the house.
On 7 September 2022, the indigenous peoples in the Grime Nawa valley in Jayapura Regency again held a demonstration demanding the government stop activities and revoke the license of the palm oil plantation company, PT Permata Nusa Mandiri (PT PNM). The compnay has a location permit from 2011 and an environmental permit since 2014. PT PNM obtained a Hak Guna Usaha (HGU) permit in 2018, although the three-year Palm Oil Moratorium has been in effect.
On 7 September 2022, a group calling itself the Committee for the Rescue of Local Wisdom in Cilegon City held a demonstration against the construction of the Maranatha Batak Protestant Huria Christian Church (HKBP) in the Cikuasa neighbourhood, Geram Village, Grogol District, Cilegon City, Banten Province. They used the Decree of the Head of Serang II No. 189/Huk/SK/1975, dated 20 March 1975, as a juridical document to reject the establishment of a church. This decree reportedly regulates the establishment of houses of worship other than mosques in Serang Regency, now Cilegon City.
A journalist, an editor of online media outlet cermat.co.id, and an official partner of kumparan.com, Mr Nurcholis Lamau, was intimidated and beaten by the family of the Deputy Mayor of Tidore Island, Mr Muhammad Sinen because of an editorial article he wrote criticising some of the Deputy Mayor public remarks. This incident occurred at Nurcholis’ house in Rum Balibunga Village, Tidore City, on 31 August 2022, not long after Nurcholis Lamau published the editorial titled “Breathing Coal Dust Get Rewards” on the online media cermat.co.id. The Dep
On 26 August 2022, the Indonesian President, Mr Joko Widodo (‘Jokowi’), issued Presidential Decree No 17/2022 on the formation of a team for non-judicial settlement of past serious human rights violations.
Police officers tortured indigenous Papuan youth, Brayen Renaldy Gombo, inside a police patrol car in the highland town of Wamena, Jayawijaya Regency, on 14 September 2022. The police officers arbitrarily arrested Brayen Renaldy Gombo because he was making fun of officers who were conducting a raid and seizing alcoholic drinks.
Officers of the Jayawijaya District Police (Polres Jayawijaya) arrested eleven university students in the highland town of Wamena on 7 September 2022.
Two international organisations, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the World Council of Churches (WCC), have voiced concerns regarding the aggravating human rights situation in Indonesia’s easternmost provinces Papua and Papua Barat.
The human rights court trial in relation to the Paniai Massacre of 2014 will be launched at the Makassar District Court on 21 September 2022
