Buchtar Tabuni at the courthouse during his trial. Image: Jubi/Mawel

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Pacific Media Centre news desk

The police who have been guarding the courthouse during the trial of Buchtar Tabuni in Jayapura in the West Papua region have made it difficult for some of the journalists wanting to cover the case.

Benny Mawel of JUBI said: “I showed my press card but the police insisted that I open my bag and take everything in it out for them to examine’.”

He said that access to the court had been made extremely difficult.

Journalists were interrogated and the police demanded to see the contents of their cases.

“This happened not only to me but to other journalists, even though we had clearly displayed our press cards,” said Mawel.

This did not happen during the earlier hearings of the trial.

A journalist  from Papua Pos Daily, Rudolf,  also said he had been heavily investigated. His bag had also been searched.

Journalist union ‘regret’
He said that before entering the court, he hung his press cord round his neck but even so, the police examined the contents of his bag.

While on the one hand regretting the  measures taken against journalists by the police, Viktor Mambor, chairman of the Jayapura branch of the Alliance of Independent Journalists, AJI, said he hoped that journalists would understand what the police were doing.

”They certainly acted excessively and this should not be necessary if journalists have clearly shown their press cards,” he said.

“But at the same time, I could understand what they were doing because during an earlier discussion I had with the chief of police, there was concern about the fact that the credentials of some of the journalists were suspect because of recent indications about the involvement of certain pressmen in the recent violent conflict  in Papua.”

He said in July a journalist had been interrogated by the police because he had reported that the outlawed pro-independence Morning Star flag had been flown on some occasions.

“In Papua, such reports only complicate matters because it stigmatises people, thereby legitimising excessive measures taken by the  the security forces. As Papuans, we have to understand this,’ he said.

Source: JUBI Tabloid, translated by TAPOL