Audryne Karma on human rights in West Papua

Audryne Karma has an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today on human rights in West Papua and her father Filep Karma's case.

She writes "for many West Papuans like me, the old regime dies hard. Indonesia has yet to realize the promise of democracy and human rights for all of its citizens... Papuans who peacefully express dissent are punished with more than a decade of imprisonment."

Audryne is Filep Karma's eldest daughter. Filep was sent sentenced in 2005 to 15 years in prison "for speaking about our survival as a nation and raising the West Papuan Morning Star flag at a ceremony organized to commemorate West Papua's liberation from Dutch rule back in 1961." She then goes on to describe Filep's trial and continued persecution in prison.

 

She writes that "My father is only one of more than 130 political prisoners inIndonesia. Many have been tortured. And many are being held in violation of not only international legal standards, but also

Indonesian laws." For a description of Filep's and other cases, see the Human Rights Watch report, Prosecuting Political Aspiration: Indonesia's Political Prisoners.

 

Amnesty International's campaign to free Filep can be found here. Write the Indonesian government today!