Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) in a letter to Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia expressed serious concern over more cases of violence against journalists in Papua and remains restricted for foreign journalists to enter the province.
PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali in his letter demanded to honor his promise to allow local and international media access to Papua and urged Indonesian government to immediately drop the charges and stop violence against journalists.
According to Alliance of Independent Journalists (AIJ), on May 1, police assaulted Yance Wenda, a local journalist who works for Jubi daily and tabloidjubi.com in Jayapura, Papua, for covering the arrest of activists of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB).
On April 28, three television journalists from Metro TV, Jaya TV and TVRI experienced intimidation during covering a trial in Wamena District Court. An unknown group of visitors surrounded them, questioning and threatening them to delete their footage of the trial. Police observed the incident but didn’t intervene.
Government blocked news sites that are critical of the government, and foreign journalists are banned from traveling freely throughout the region.
Government should enforce protection of journalists under Press Law No.4/1999 across the archipelago, especially in Papua.
