(file image) Photo: AFP/ Andrew Gal
Four Papuan political prisoners have been sentenced to seven months' imprisonment on treason charges.
But a West Papua independence advocate said Indonesia is using its law to silence opposition.
In April this year, letters were delivered to government institutions in Sorong West Papua, asking for peaceful dialogue between Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto and a group seeking to make West Papua independent of Indonesia, the Federal Republic of West Papua.
Four people were arrested for delivering the letters, and this triggered protests, which became violent.
West Papua Action Aotearoa's Catherine Delahunty said Indonesia claims the four, known as the Sorong four, caused instability.
"What actually caused instability was arresting people for delivering letters, and the Indonesians refused to acknowledge that actually people have a right to deliver letters," she said.
"They have a right to have opinions, and they will continue to protest when those rights are systematically denied."
Indonesia's embassy based in Wellington said the central government had not gotten involved in the legal process, but the letters did fall into the category of treason, as per the national crime code.
Delahunty said the arrests are in line with previous action the Indonesian government had taken in response to West Papua independence protests.
"This is the kind of use of an abuse of law that happens all the time in order to shut down any form of dissent and leadership. In the 1930s we'd call this fascism. It is a military occupation using all the law to actually suppress the people."
Delahunty said the situation was an abuse of human rights and it's all happening less than an hour away from Darwin in northern Australia.
The spokesperson for Indonesia's embassy said the government had been closely monitoring the case at arm's length to avoid accusations of overreach.
