 |
| The West Australian © Activist: Benny Wenda. Picture: Supplied |
He escaped from prison while on murder
and arson charges, spent two years on an international wanted list
after Indonesian authorities alleged he was a terrorist and tomorrow he
will arrive in Perth.
But West Papua independence movement leader
Benny Wenda says Indonesian authorities - his accusers - are the ones
guilty of terrible crimes.
He says they are the aggressors in a secret war of genocide being waged against his people less than 500km north of Australia.
Mr
Wenda, who is on an international speaking tour to raise awareness
about his people's fight for self-determination, said yesterday he was a
peaceful political campaigner who was the victim of false allegations
intended to silence him.
"They (Indonesia) always say that I am a criminal," he said.
"Actually, it's the other way around. Indonesia is the criminal. They illegally occupied my country and are killing my people."
Mr
Wenda, 37, was arrested for murder and arson after allegedly inciting
an attack on Indonesian police in 2000. But his Australian lawyer,
Jennifer Robinson, said the charges were politically motivated and
unfounded. She said Mr Wenda was in a refugee camp in Papua New Guinea
at the time of the attack.
"The prosecution was unable to produce
any credible evidence," Ms Robinson said. "The judge accepted three
witness statements from police from three people we could not identify
and they were unable to bring to the courtroom."
In 2002, Mr Wenda
escaped from jail through a ventilation shaft, crossed into PNG and
went to Britain, which gave him political asylum.
In 2011,
Interpol put him under a red flag notice after Indonesia added terrorism
to the allegations against him. After a two-year legal battle, his name
was cleared and the flag removed.
The catalyst for his activism
came when, as a five-year-old in West Papua's central highlands, he
allegedly saw Indonesian soldiers rape his aunts and brutally beat his
mother.
"I tried to help my mum," he said. "Her face was bleeding right in front of my eyes. I couldn't do anything. I just cried."
Mr
Wenda claims that since West Papua voted to become part of Indonesia in
1969 - a ballot he says was forced at gunpoint - authorities have
killed about 500,000 West Papuans in their crackdown on separatists. He
said many recent killings were by a squad of crack troops known as
Detachment 88, who get support from Australia.
WA Greens senator
Scott Ludlam, who will speak with Mr Wenda in Perth and echoed the
Papuan leader's concerns about Australia's links to Detachment 88, said
the people of West Papua had a legitimate claim to self-determination
and should not be treated like criminals.
Amnesty International
and the Australian Government have urged Indonesia to investigate
alleged human rights abuses in Papuan provinces.
A Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said Australia backed Indonesia's
sovereignty over the Papuan provinces and that Detachment 88 received
help from Australian Federal Police for investigations and forensic
assistance.
Mr Wenda said he had never taken up arms for his cause and believed peaceful, political lobbying was the way forward.
"The world is changing," he said. "We don't have any power to resist through the gun.
"The powerful weapon is the peaceful way. The powerful weapon is the truth."
Follow thewest.com.au on Twitter