"This fundraising was coordinated across West Papua by church groups in West Papua and the umbrella organisation, the United Liberation Movement for West Papua."

"The entire gathering was forcibly dispersed by armed Indonesian police who can be seen on a photo from the day, opening fire upon my people."

Wenda's press release was posted on the Free West Papua website on 21 March.

On 24 March, Wenda was detained by immigration officials when he arrived in Port Moresby.

He had flown from the United Kingdom and had planned to visit PNG before heading to Vanuatu for a meeting of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

The office of Papua New Guinea's prime minister Peter O'Neill said Mr Wenda had arrived in the country without a visa.

A spokesman for Mr O'Neill said the West Papuan independence leader was not being deported, but he was "not permitted to enter the country".

"It's not a political issue, it's a visa issue," he said.

Source

• freewestpapua.org
• Radio Australia
• Image: freewestpapua

There have been numerous reports from West Papua about the voilent behaviour of the Indonesian military and police.

At the time of Wenda's visit McCully also advised two National MPs against hosting the independence leader after they had proposed co-sponsoring the West Papuan in a public forum at Parliament Buildings.

He said New Zealand had a constructive relationship with Indonesia, and Government MPs hosting a member of the independence movement was not a "good fit" with this relationship.

Mr Wenda met Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAT) officials instead.

A recent media release from the Leadership Working Forum of Papuan Churches about the state of violence in West Papua lists 8 violent incidents that have occurred in the last 5 year.

Father Saul Wanimbo, the Director of the Commission for Justice and Peace (SKP) in Timika diocese, said that during police sweeps, local people are being forced to hand over their mobile phones. They analyse the memory cards on the mobile phones to find songs in Papuan language, and if the memory card is found to contain either one or many Papuan folk songs, police will smash the memory card with stones, according to Fr Wanimbo.

Wanimbo told Jubi, citing his own experiences and stories directly from Enaro residents from 1-20 Febrruary 2013. Wanimbo said that Paniai people have been so demoralised that they just accept the oppressive actions of the occupation forces.

Source

• West Papua Media Alerts
• New Zealand Herald
• Image: New Zealand Herald

The Indonesian authorities say they wanted him to stand trial for murder and arson, offences he denies.

But Interpol decided the case against Mr Wenda was "political".

Benny Wenda, was convicted of inciting people to attack a police station and an arson attack that resulted in several deaths. However, he escaped from prison while awaiting sentence in 2002.

Wenda later arrived in the U.K. and successfully claimed political asylum, arguing that the case against him was a fabrication designed to stop his political activities. He has lived with his wife and children in the English city of Oxford.

There are currently about 26,000 outstanding red notices. While they are only designed to alert other nations' police forces that an Interpol member state has issued an arrest warrant, some countries will take suspects into custody based on the red notice alone.

Interpol is facing legal threat for helping oppressive regimes hunt dissidents

Source

• Radio New Zealand International
• NBC World News
• NBC World News
• Image: asopa