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Briefing Paper: Political arrests in West Papua from 2012-2014

this briefing paper provides an analytical overview of data on political arrests in west papua from 2012 to 2014. it includes analysis of emerging trends in human rights violations associated with these political arrests.
our analysis shows that during the three-year period of this report, the majority of those detained were arrested because of their participation in demonstrations or other types of peaceful political activity. 2013 was a particularly bad year, with a record high of 548 arrests. the data also showed that most of those detained were male (95%).
17 December 2015

This briefing paper provides an analytical overview of data on political arrests in West Papua from 2012 to 2014. It includes analysis of emerging trends in human rights violations associated with these political arrests.

Our analysis shows that during the three-year period of this report, the majority of those detained were arrested because of their participation in demonstrations or other types of peaceful political activity. 2013 was a particularly bad year, with a record high of 548 arrests. The data also showed that most of those detained were male (95%).

Charges of treason (Article 106 of the Indonesian Criminal Code) and conspiracy to commit treason (Articles 106 and 110) were the most frequently used charges against political detainees.

While the use of Emergency Law 12/1951, which punishes the possession of sharp weapons, firearms and ammunition, has decreased, there appears to be a substitution of this charge with other politically motivated charges of criminal violence, such as Articles 187 or 170.
The number of cases of torture and denial of access to lawyers has increased over the three-year period. Of particular concern is the sharp five-fold increase in 2014 of the number of detainees tortured for participating in demonstrations

You can download the full report here.

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