TAPOL regrets the sentencing of seven West Papuan political prisoners today in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan province. The Seven were arrested in early September 2019 and accused of being the masterminds behind the ‘West Papua Uprising’, mass anti-racism protests in August and September last year. Prosecutors demanded that harsh prison sentences should be handed to the Seven, which has caused a rise in tensions in recent weeks in West Papua.

TAPOL condemns the demand by Prosecutors seeking seventeen and five years imprisonment respectively, for West Papuan activists Buchtar Tabuni and Irwanus Uropmabin.

These sentences are excessive and at best an attempt to make examples out of West Papuan political activists who are simply trying to exercise their civil and political rights. These rights are protected by international principles as well as Indonesia’s national Constitution.

West Papuans have been denouncing the injustice of these heavy sentences, as the racist perpetrators in Java who triggered the mass protests were either freed or only sentenced to 5, 7, and 10 months imprisonment.