Simon Tuturop

Simon Tuturop (born in Fakfak , West Papua in the 1950s ) is a Papuan political activist for the independence of West New Guinea (West Papua) from Indonesia.

He was arrested for participating in a ceremony on July 3, 1982 in the city of Jayapura , during which the independence of Western New Guinea was proclaimed. This event was ruled illegal by the Indonesian authorities, so he was sentenced to twelve years in prison and sent to Kalisosok City Prison. He was released in 1989. Immediately afterwards he got involved in the release of other political prisoners. After the resignation of Indonesia's President Suharto in May 1998, he worked in Aceh for the victims of the fighting between Indonesian troops and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). On July 19, 2008, he took part in a rally at which he and several dozen other people raised the flags of the independence movement for West Papua, which were banned in Indo-Asia. Because of the incident, he was arrested again and detained until early 2012.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Indonesia Prosecuting Political Aspiration Indonesia's Political Prisoners , at: Hrw.org (eng.) (PDF; 1.8 MB)
2. ↑ Papuan Political Prisoners Released in Fak-fak , at: Westpapuamedia.info (eng.)