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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/26/indonesian-military-accused-of-targeting-children-west-papua>
Warning: describes torture of children.
"The body of 17-year-old Wity Unue was brought back by the Indonesian military
in a box, witnesses say. When soldiers couldn’t find his family, they burned
the cardboard coffin, with his body inside, in a clearing at the end of a road
in the remote highlands of West Papua.
The high school student – a promising musician and songwriter – had been
tortured and burned to death.
His parents, who had recently fled a military crackdown in fear for their
lives, were shocked and devastated when they found out, says Raga Kogeya, a
West Papuan human rights activist.
Kogeya says that days earlier, on 7 April this year, Wity had been interrogated
and detained along with three other boys and two young men under suspicion of
being part of the troubled region’s rebel army. They were taken by special
forces soldiers who rampaged through the West Papuan village of Kuyawage,
burning down houses and a church and terrorising locals.
Transported by helicopter to the regional military headquarters 100km away, the
group were beaten and burnt so badly by their captors that they no longer
looked human.
Kogeya says Wity died a painful death in custody. The other five were only
released after human rights advocates tipped off the local media.
“The kids had all been tortured and they’d been tied up and then burned,” says
Kogeya, who saw the surviving boys’ injuries first-hand on the day of their
release.
“[The military] had heated up machetes and knives and pressed it against their
skin … They didn’t even look like humans. They were burnt from head to toe.
They were in a really bad way.”
Human rights advocates say the incident is one of many in recent years that go
beyond a historical crossfire between the Indonesian military and West Papua’s
rebel army, which regularly attacks and kills members of the Indonesian
military and police."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
