Papua political prisoner denied medical access

[June 23, 2010]  PAPUA, Indonesia (AP) -- Filep Karma has served five years behind bars on a 15-year treason sentence for raising a banned flag in Indonesia's easternmost Papua province. He says he's endured beatings by guards, and now prison authorities are denying him medical treatment for a potentially life-threatening prostate ailment.

His case -- and those of several other high-profile prisoners of conscience in far-flung separatist-torn regions -- was highlighted in a 40-page report released Wednesday by the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

They include Buchtar Tabuni, serving three years for "inciting hatred" by orchestrating an anti-government rally and Johan Teterisa, who was initially sentenced to life for leading dancers who raised pro-independence flags at a ceremony attended by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. It was eventually dropped to 15 years on appeal.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has made tremendous strides toward democratization since emerging from decades of dictatorship under Gen. Suharto in 1998. Citizens today can vote directly for president and the country has been lauded for sweeping reforms that have freed the media and vastly improved human rights.

But the government is highly sensitive to the separatist struggles in Papua and the Molucca islands. They restrict visits by human rights workers and journalists, and pro-independent activists have been given lengthy prison terms for peacefully expressing their views, organizing rallies or for simply raising separatist flags.

Phil Robertson, of New York-based Human Rights Watch, called the estimated 100 political prisoners in the two regions the "forgotten ones."

"What's happening to these political prisoners is frankly a stain on Indonesia's otherwise improving rights record," he said, adding the kind of broad charges leveled against activists, the failures of due process in their trials, and the abuses they suffer in detention, "marks back to a darker time ... when one man, Suharto, and his family ran Indonesia."

There was no immediate comment from the government concerning the report.

But Candran Listiyono, spokesman for the Directorate General of Prisons in the capital, Jakarta, told The Associated Press he was not aware of any mistreatment toward inmates and promised to investigate.

He said Karma, the 51-year-old former civil servant suffering from a prostate gland condition, had permission to go to a hospital for medical treatment -- it was just a matter of timing.

"We haven't violated his rights in any way," he said. "He has food, water, a room, and the right to go to a hospital, so there's no problem."

But Karma, who is one of the country's best-known political prisoners, had a different story.

He led hundreds of students through the streets of Abepura in 2004 chanting "freedom" before joining a ceremony to raise the Morning Star flag, a symbol of the banned Free Papua Movement. When authorities tried to break up the demonstration, clashes broke out between protesters and police.

The father of two teenaged daughters was arrested immediately and sentenced in 2005 to 15 years in prison for treason.

Karma told The AP by mobile phone from his cell in Abepura prison he started complaining to friends about his prostate gland ailment in August 2009, but medics at the prison clinic said he just needed to drink more water and rest. Since then, he has been examined by doctors from Jakarta and elsewhere, who have repeatedly warned he needed surgery.

"My understanding is that if he doesn't get the medical treatment he needs, basically his various organs are not going to function," said Robertson.

"I'm still waiting," Karma added. "I badly need treatment. They don't have the equipment they need here."

Karma also described brutal attacks by guards on others jailed for taking part in anti-government rallies, the worst of which left his friend, Ferdinand Pakage, blind in the right eye. Pakage is serving 15 years for killing a government official during a protest, a crime he says he didn't commit.

[Associated Press]

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