Indonesia is detaining 48 political prisoners in the eastern most Island of Papua, where a low level separatist battle has been taking place for decades.
Papua officially became part of Indonesia in 1969 after it was annexed.
Since then there have been calls for independence from the government in Jakarta.
Amongst them is Papua's most-popular pro-independence leader Filep Karma. He is serving 15 years in jail for rebellion. Amnesty International considers him as a prison of conscience on par with Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma.
In a rare interview with KBR68H reporter Mohammad Ilham he claims he has suffered physical and mental abuse while in Jail.
Filep Karma leads hundreds of Papuan students in cries of 'Independence!' during a demonstration in the provincial capital in December 2004.
They then raise the banned Morning Star flag- the symbol of a independent papua- while military policemen watch on.
For this act of defiance Filkep Karma was jail for 15 years for rebellion.
“My understand was that Indonesia is a democracy and according to the law in order to hold a demonstration you don’t need to have a licence but you need to inform the police of your activities three days before the event. I did that but they terrorised us in a nation that is meant to be a democracy, a nation where freedom of speak is meant to be protected. So I want to know is this a nation controlled by terrorists?"
Foreign journalists are restricted from reporting in the province.
And the International Red Cross was ordered out of Papua last year after it visited political prisoners.
In this rare interview conducted without the permission of the authorities Karma claims prison guards abuse him on a weekly basis.
"I have been punched, kicked, pulled. But what hurts more is the mental torture we are subjected to. An officer once told me, when you enter here you lose all your rights including human rights. Your rights are only to breathe, eat and follow our orders. He even went as far as to say that your life is in my hands."
US based lobby group Human rights watch recently released a report detailing widespread torture and abuse of political prisoners in the country.
Including the case of Ferdinand Pakage who lost sight in one eye due to a beating by a guard.
The head of the Papuan branch of the Ministry for Law and Human Rights, Nasarudin Bunas confirms the beating took place.
“Yes it was very clear one of the prisoners Ferdinand Pakage was beaten by a guard. That’s the truth. We are processing the case and the guard who did it is being processed by the police. But yes the guard who did it is still working at the jail, we are in the process of moving him. But we have to work slowly because we have a lack of staff. We can not control the prison guards all the time and I can’t be there all the time.”
He says they are trying to change the culture of abuse in prisons.
“Yes in our jails we still do have a problem with Papuan guards who like to get drunk and come to work then beat up the prisoners. That is still happening. That’s a problem and we are working on that. Those who like to get drunk and beat prisoners and don’t want to work in the new system in the jail we will let them go.”
Nasarudin Bunas says his local office of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights is in the process of lodged a petition to the President to have 32 political prisoners in Papua released.
They have only expressed their opinion and act on their consicience that they are allowed to do he says.
Human Rights watch and Amnesty international are also lobbying for their release along with 69 political prisoners from the Molaccas.
Phil Robertson is the groups deputy director with the Asia Division.
“In prison for peaceful political expression we have strongly urged that they be released. This is in line not only with Indonesia’s constitution, that guarantees freedom of expression, but also with Indonesia’s international human rights commitment.”
Q. These people are being held under charges of treason and rebellion. Separatism in Indonesia is the most sensitive issue. The Indonesian government says this is an issue of national security and these people are threatening that. Do they not have a right to keep the nation together?
“Nothing in this report either supports or negates the claims of these activists for political separation. What we are talking about is solely that peaceful expression of political aspiration should not be criminalised.”
Filep Karma says he has already been offered a pardon from the Indonesian government as long as he abandons his independence struggle.
Something he will never accept.
“That means that I am sorry and that I did something wrong. For me no way! I did nothing wrong. What I said was the truth and was my right as a Papuan. We are not invading some other Indonesian islands in order to create our nation—No. What we are aspiring to is our rights over our land. We were born here and this is our ancestors land. We are a different race with a different culture to the rest of Indonesia. Papuan people are viewed as half-animals by western Indonesians. I really felt that when I lived in Java people would call out to me ‘monkey’. That is very painful. So we are different so we can not be united. What’s the point of being part of a nation where we are not treated as humans?”
Papua is rich in natural resources and is the home of the world's largest gold mine owned by US Company Freeport.
Yet Papua remains one of the less developed parts of Indonesia.
Filep Karma refused to give details on the strength or size of the Papuan separatist movement.
But analyst from the Brussels based International crisis group says it is no match for the Indonesian security forces.
Karma has dire predictions for his people.
“If there are no changes I make the harsh estimation that by 2020 ethnic Papuans will be extinct. The way thinking of the Indonesian government is to slowly and certainly destroy the Papuan people through poison, alcohol, killings, stealing of our ancestral lands, suppressing our economic rights in the way the our brothers and sisters Aboriginals of Australia or the Indians of America were crushed. (Former minister of communication information under Soeharto) Ali Moertopo told the truth when he said what we need is the land in Papua not the people he said the Papuan people who can go and make your own nation somewhere else in the sea or on the moon. Our land is rich in natural resources that are what they want. So I predict by 2020 our people will be destroyed through direct killings and more indirect ways. So our people must rise up! We must shout loudly for our rights! We must fight for independence or be destroyed!”
Papua's most-popular pro-independence leader Filep Karma. He is serving 15 years in jail for rebellion. Amnesty International considers him as a prison of conscience on par with Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma. He was speaking in an exclusive interview from jail with KBR68H’s Mohammad Ilham.