radiofree.asia

Category: Crime

  • Texas Forgetting

    Art work by E.R. Bills

    So, I’m sitting in a Port Lavaca hotel room Thursday evening, March 28, thinking about winding down. It’s been a long drive from Fort Worth and traffic has been a beating. But then I open the roller-shade on the only window in my hotel room and see it.

    No, not the ocean—though I can see it, too.

    It’s the Shellfish.

    And no, not a shellfish. The Shellfish. The Port Lavaca restaurant. It looks closed down and I don’t immediately recall why I know the place.

    I’m in Port Lavaca to do some research for a new book. I wouldn’t say it’s been an all-consuming process of late, but spotting the Shellfish sidetracks me.

    Then, I remember. I realize where I am.

    I’ve written a lot about some pretty dark stuff. Massacres, murders, lynchings, rapes, genocide, ecocide, disappearances, expulsions and cataclysms. It would be unfair to say the stuff doesn’t leave an impression on you or, in this case, me. But if you do it long enough, you can lose track. You care about the victims and the people in the stories, or cases or history you’re researching, but when enough of it piles up in your memory, you can slip.

    I slipped.

    I got invited to a history festival in Houston that Saturday and decided I’d kill two or three birds with one stone (a horrible metaphor in the end). I book a room at a hotel in Port Lavaca and drive down. I visit the site of old port city of Indianola—the victim of two late 19th century cataclysms. I’m focused on the subject matter at hand and not paying attention to other details. For instance, I didn’t notice that my hotel was located right before the Port Lavaca causeway. And I also didn’t realize my hotel sat between the causeway and the Shellfish.

    Forty-three years on the morning of April 1, 1981, a twenty-four-year-old woman named Kathryn Elizabeth Collins disappeared in front of the Shellfish restaurant just off the Port Lavaca causeway. A tire on her brown 1974 Chevy Caprice had gone flat and she was attempting change it, but she had no jack. A couple stopped to help, but they didn’t have a jack, either. So, they left to borrow one. At approximately 8:45 a.m., a tan van pulled up. Multiple witnesses saw the van and a man stepping out and offering to help Kathryn. She apparently joined him for a ride in his vehicle, but the tire on the Caprice didn’t get fixed and Kathryn Collins was never seen or heard from again.

    In 2021, I wrote about Collins in Texas Oblivion: Mysterious Disappearances, Escapes and Cover-Ups. I devoted a chapter to her and another young lady who had disappeared in the area just three years before. Kirkus Reviews called the book “authoritative and well-researched,” and Texas Books in Review had high praise for the collection, calling me “A voice for the forgotten.”

    All well and good then, but now I don’t feel authoritative or reliably vocal. I feel mute and amnesic. I am embarrassed and a little ashamed.

    Sometimes I forget I’m a tourist with a typewriter—sorry, keyboard.

    We try to get the stories right. We try to tell the truth. We try to be mindful of the victims and their families, and maybe help them find some closure. Maybe even help them find answers.

    But then we’re on to the next story. The next disappearance. The next murder. The next cataclysm.

    There are so, so many in Texas. And so many Texans are hurting. But we’re not real keen on remembering, these days. Especially on Opening Day.

    While I was staring out my hotel window at the spot where Kathryn Elizabeth Collins disappeared, most folks back home were watching the reigning World Series Champion Texas Rangers (or, down here, Houston Astros) play baseball.

    And a week from the anniversary of the day Collins disappeared and was eclipsed in my memory by another story, we’d be witnessing an actual solar eclipse—between meaningless sports spectacles and the reporting of well-meaning, but forgetful journalists.

    In late 1984, infamous serial killer Henry Lee Lucas was interviewed regarding a number of cases in Victoria County, Calhoun County and surrounding counties, but the dates he said he was in the area didn’t correspond with Collins’ disappearance. In 1991, investigators looked at serial killer Donald Leroy Evans regarding the incident, but no connection was ever established.

    I talked to employees at the hotel where I was staying, and they’d never heard of Kathryn Collins. They had to look it up on their phones. They were surprised. And so were some older locals I visited with at the Calhoun County Museum in Port Lavaca. They didn’t remember the disappearance, either. They had never even heard of it.

    It was sad, but my lapse of memory was worse, especially in a year that will later mark the fiftieth anniversary of the disappearance of three girls at a Fort Worth mall. A complete and utter vanishing that, for a while, kept people away from the mall.

    I have a daughter about the age Collins was when she went missing. I can’t help but be a little uneasy about her driving alone, especially at night. But Collins was taken in broad daylight. She was 5’ 5”, brown hair, brown eyes and petite. She had a young son and a boyfriend. Her son eventually went to live with her boyfriend’s family.

    As another National Women’s History Month passes, I think about all that women have endured in Texas. I marvel at all their incredible contributions, and then I think about how many women I know who are talking about leaving Texas because they don’t feel safe. And I understand.

    I am discomfited by the creepy, unconscionable chauvinism that is reemerging in Texas politics, essentially reinforcing the objectification and subjugation of women at the same time.

    The Texas Legislature is much scarier than a suspect in a tan van—if he got you pregnant and let you live, the Texas Lege would make you keep the fruit of his brutality. And if you tried to abort it, you could be thrown in jail or sued by Christian activists.

    Will the current abortion of female autonomy in Texas be forgotten?

    Will future Texans even remember it existed?

    The post Texas Forgetting first appeared on Dissident Voice.


    This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by E.R. Bills.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Open letter: AWPA calls on Wong to protest to Jakarta over brutal torture

    OPEN LETTER: To Australia’s Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong

    Dear Foreign Minister,

    I am writing to you on behalf of the Australia West Papua Association in Sydney concerning the brutal torture of a West Papuan man, Defianus Kogoya by Indonesian troops in West Papua in early February.

    Anybody watching the video footage of the Papuan man being tortured by the Indonesian security forces cannot help but be horrified and outraged at the brutality of those involved in the torture.

    A video of the torture is circulating on social media and in numerous articles in the main stream media.

    Flashback to Asia Pacific Report's report on the Indonesian torture on 23 March 2024
    Flashback to Asia Pacific Report’s report on the Indonesian torture on 23 March 2024 . . . global condemnation and protests quickly followed. Image: APR screenshot

    The video shows the man placed in a drum filled with water, with both his hands tied. The victim is repeatedly punched and kicked by several soldiers.

    His back is also slashed with a knife. One can only imagine the fear and terror the Papuan man must feel at this brutal torture being inflicted on him.

    At first the military denied the claim. However, they eventually admitted it was true and arrested 13 soldiers involved in the incident.

    I’m sure we will hear statements from Jakarta that this was an isolated incident, that they were “rogue” soldiers and that 13 soldiers have been arrested over the torture. However, if the video had not gone viral would anybody have been held to account?

    Tragically this is not an isolated incident. We will not go into all the details of the human rights abuses committed against West Papuans by the Indonesian security forces as we are sure you are aware of the numerous reports documenting these incidents.

    However, there are regular clashes between the Indonesian security forces and the TPNPB (Free Papua Movement) who are fighting for their independence. As a result of these clashes the military respond with what they call sweeps of the area.

    It’s not unusual for houses and food gardens to be destroyed during these operations, including the arrest and torture of Papuans. Local people usually flee in fear from the military to the forest or other regions creating internally displaced people (IDP).

    Human rights reports indicate there are more than 60,000 IDP in West Papua. Many suffer from malnutrition and their children are missing out on their education.

    Amnesty International Indonesia, church and civil society groups in West Papua and around the world have condemned the torture and are calling for a thorough investigation into the torture case.

    AWPA is urging you to also add your voice, condemning this brutal torture incident by the Indonesian military .

    The West Papuan people are calling on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Papua to investigate the human rights situation in the territory. We urge you to use you good offices with the Indonesian government, urging Jakarta to allow such a visit to take place.

    Yours sincerely

    Joe Collins
    Australia West Papua Association (    AWPA)
    Sydney

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesian military apologies fail to mask the harassment, gagging of Papuan leaders

    COMMENTARY: By Ronny Kareni

    Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding.

    Nowhere is this more evident than in the plight of the leaders of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Markus Haluk and Menase Tabuni. Their unwavering resolve in condemning the situation has faced targeted harassment and discrimination.

    The leaders of the ULMWP have become targets of a state campaign aimed at silencing them.

    Menase Tabuni, serving as the executive council president of the ULMWP, along with Markus Haluk, the executive secretary, have recently taken on the responsibility of leading political discourse directly from within West Papua.

    This decision follows the ULMWP’s second high-level summit in Port Vila in August 2023, where the movement reaffirmed its commitment to advocating for the rights and freedoms of the people of West Papua.

    On March 23, the ULMWP leadership released a media statement in which Tabuni condemned the abhorrent racist slurs and torture depicted in the video of a fellow Papuan at the hands of Indonesia’s security forces.

    Tabuni called for an immediate international investigation to be conducted by the UN Commissioner of the Human Rights Office.

    Harassment not protection
    However, the response from Indonesian authorities was not one of protection, but rather a chilling escalation of harassment facilitated by the Criminal Code and Information and Electronic Transactions Law, known as UU ITE.

    Since UU ITE took effect in November 2016, it has been viewed as the state’s weapon against critics, as shown during the widespread anti-racism protests across West Papua in mid-August of 2019.

    Harassment and intimidation . . . ULMWP leaders
    Harassment and intimidation . . . ULMWP leaders (from left) Menase Tabuni (executive council president), Markus Haluk (executive council secretary), Apolos Sroyer (judicial council chairperson), and Willem Rumase (legislative council chairperson). Image: ULMWP

    The website SemuaBisaKena, dedicated to documenting UU ITE cases, recorded 768 cases in West Papua between 2016 and 2020.

    The limited information on laws to protect individuals exercising their freedom of speech, including human rights defenders, political activist leaders, journalists, and civil society representatives, makes the situation worse.

    For example, Victor Mambor, a senior journalist and founder of the Jubi news media group, in spite of being praised as a humanitarian and rights activist by the UN Human Rights Council in September 2021, continues to face frequent acts of violence and intimidation for his truth-telling defiance.

    Threats and hate speech on his social media accounts are frequent. His Twitter account was hacked and deleted in 2022 after he posted a video showing Indonesian security forces abusing a disabled civilian.

    Systematic intimidation
    The systematic nature of this intimidation in West Papua cannot be understated.

    It is a well-coordinated effort designed to suffocate dissent and silence the voice of resistance.

    The barrage of messages and missed calls to both Tabuni and Haluk creates a psychological warfare waged with callous indifference, leaving scars that run deep. It creates an atmosphere of perpetual unease, leaving wondering when the next onslaught will happen.

    The inundation of their phones with messages filled with discriminatory slurs in Bahasa serves as crude reminders of the lengths to which state entities will go in abuse of the law.

    Translated into English, these insults such as “Hey asshole I stale you” or “You smell like shit” not only denigrate the ULMWP political leaders but also serve as threats, such as “We are not afraid” or “What do you want”, which underscore calculated malice behind the attacks.

    This incident highlights a systemic issue, laying bare the fragility of democratic ideals in the face of entrenched power and exposing the hollowness of promises made by those who claim to uphold the rule of law.

    Disinformation grandstanding
    In the wake of the Indonesian government’s response to the video footage, which may outwardly appear as a willingness to address the issue publicly, there is a stark contrast in the treatment of Papuan political leaders and activists behind closed doors.

    While an apology from the Indonesian military commander in Papua through a media conference earlier this week may seem like a step in the right direction, it merely scratches the surface of a deeper issue.

    Firstly, the government’s call for firm action against individual soldiers depicted in the video, which has proven to be military personnel, cannot be served as a distraction from addressing broader systemic human rights abuses in West Papua.

    A thorough and impartial investigation into all reports of harassment, intimidation and reprisals against human rights defenders ensures that all perpetrators are brought to justice, and if convicted, punished with penalties commensurate with the seriousness of the offence.

    However, by focusing solely on potential disciplinary measures against a handful of soldiers, the government fails to acknowledge the larger pattern of abuse and oppression prevailing in the region.

    Also the statement from the Presidential Staff Office could be viewed as a performative gesture aimed at neutralising international critics rather than instigating genuine reforms.

    Without concrete efforts to address the root causes of human rights abuses in West Papua, such statements risk being perceived as empty rhetoric that fails to bring about tangible change for the Papuan people.

    Enduring struggle
    Historically, West Papua has been marked by a long-standing struggle for independence and self-determination, always met with resistance from Indonesian authorities.

    Activists advocating for West Papua’s rights and freedoms become targets of threats and harassment as they challenge entrenched power structures and seek to bring international attention to their cause.

    The lack of accountability and impunity enjoyed by the state and its security forces of such acts further emboldens those who seek to silence dissent through intimidation and coercion. Thus, the threats and harassment experienced by the ULMWP leaders and West Papua activists are not only a reflection of the struggle for self-determination but also symptomatic of broader systemic injustices.

    In navigating the turbulent waters ahead, let us draw strength from the unwavering resolve of Markus Haluk, Menase Tabuni and many Papuans who refuse to be silenced.

    The leaders of the ULMWP and all those who stand alongside them in the fight for justice and freedom serve as a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit.

    It is incumbent upon us all to stand in solidarity with those who face intimidation and harassment, to lend our voices to their cause and to shine a light on the darkness that seeks to envelop them.

    For in the end, it is only through collective action and unwavering resolve that we can overcome the forces of tyranny and usher in a future where freedom reigns freely.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • The Never-Ending Federal Surveillance Crime Spree

    Photo: James Bovard.

    Last December, one of the most intrusive provisions in the federal statute book was set to expire. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorizes the National Security Agency to vacuum up trillions of emails and other data. A bevy of bipartisan members of Congress called for radically curtailing those nullifications of Americans’ privacy.

    But the effort to put a leash on the federal surveillance failed dismally. Congress voted for a four-month extension of FISA, which will likely be followed in April by a much longer extension. There was a bipartisan congressional conspiracy to entitle the Deep State to continue trampling the Constitution.

    In 1978, Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to outlaw political spying (such as the FBI had committed) on American citizens. FISA created a secret court to oversee federal surveillance of suspected foreign agents within the United States, permitting a much more lenient standard for wiretaps than the Constitution permitted for American citizens.

    The FISA court “created a secret body of law giving the National Security Agency the power to amass vast collections of data on Americans,” the New York Times reported in 2013 after Edward Snowden leaked court decisions. The court rubber-stamped FBI requests that bizarrely claimed that the telephone records of all Americans were “relevant” to a terrorism investigation under the Patriot Act, thereby enabling National Security Administration (NSA) data seizures later denounced by a federal judge as “almost Orwellian.” In 2017, a FISA court decision included a 10-page litany of FBI violations, which “ranged from illegally sharing raw intelligence with unauthorized third parties to accessing intercepted attorney-client privileged communications without proper oversight.”

    FISA Section 702

    The latest controversy involved FISA Section 702, first enacted by Congress in 2008. That section authorizes the National Security Agency to surveil targets in foreign nations regardless of how many Americans’ privacy is “incidentally” destroyed. The NSA collects vast amounts of information as part of that surveillance and then permits the FBI to sift through its troves. The Electronic Frontier Foundation warned more than a decade ago that Section 702 “created a broad national-security exception to the Constitution that allows all Americans to be spied upon by their government while denying them any viable means of challenging that spying.”

    Professor David Rothkopf explained in 2013 how Section 702 worked: “What if government officials came to your home and said that they would collect all of your papers and hold onto them for safe-keeping, just in case they needed them in the future. But don’t worry … they wouldn’t open the boxes until they had a secret government court order … sometime, unbeknownst to you.” Actually, the law in practice is much worse.

    A license for lying

    From the beginning, federal agencies brazenly lied about the number of Americans whose privacy was ravaged. In 2014, former NSA employee Edward Snowden provided the Washington Post with a cache of 160,000 secret email threads that the NSA had intercepted. The Post found that nine out of ten account holders were not the “intended surveillance targets but were caught in a net the agency had cast for somebody else.” Almost half of the individuals whose personal data was inadvertently commandeered were American citizens. The files “tell stories of love and heartbreak, illicit sexual liaisons, mental-health crises, political and religious conversions, financial anxieties and disappointed hopes,” the Post noted. If an American citizen wrote an email in a foreign language, NSA analysts assumed they were foreigners who could be surveilled without a warrant.

    FISA perils are compounded because, in practice, the FBI has a blank check for perjury in the name of Total Information Awareness. In 2002, the FISA court revealed that FBI agents had false or misleading claims in 75 cases, and a top FBI counterterrorism official was prohibited from ever appearing before the court again. Three years later, FISA chief judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly proposed requiring FBI agents to swear to the accuracy of the information they presented; that never happened because it could have “slowed such investigations drastically,” the Washington Post reported. So FBI agents continued to have a license to exploit FISA secrecy to lie to the judges.

    An abuse of power

    In 2018, a FISA ruling condemned the FBI for ignoring limits on “unreasonable searches.” As the New York Times noted,

    F.B.I. agents had carried out several large-scale searches for Americans who generically fit into broad categories … so long as agents had a reason to believe that someone within that category might have relevant information. But [under FISA] there has to be an individualized reason to search for any particular American’s information.

    The FBI treated the FISA repository like the British agents treated general warrants in the 1760s, helping spark the American Revolution.

    But Congress reauthorized Section 702 in 2018 regardless of the perpetual abuses of that power. Subsequent reports revealed that the congressional vote of blind confidence was misplaced. But Congress did oblige the feds to publicly disclose how often the FBI unjustifiably violated Americans’ privacy by snooping in the NSA catch-all archives.

    The FBI exploited FISA to target 19,000 donors to the campaign of a candidate who challenged an incumbent member of Congress. An FBI analyst justified the warrantless searches by claiming “the campaign was a target of foreign influence,” but even the Justice Department concluded that almost all of those searches violated FISA rules. Apparently, merely reciting the phrase “foreign influence” suffices to nullify Americans’ rights nowadays. (In March, Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL) revealed that he had been wrongly targeted by the FBI in numerous FISA 702 searches.)

    Warrantless searches

    In April 2021, the FISA court reported that the FBI conducted warrantless searches of the data trove for “domestic terrorism,” “public corruption and bribery,” “health care fraud,” and other targets — including people who notified the FBI of crimes and even repairmen entering FBI offices. If you sought to report a crime to the FBI, an FBI agent may have illegally surveilled your email. Even if you merely volunteered for the FBI “Citizens Academy” program, the FBI may have illegally tracked all your online activity. In 2019, an FBI agent conducted an unjustified database search “using the identifiers of about 16,000 people, even though only seven of them had connections to an investigation,” the New York Times reported.

    As I tweeted after that report came out, “The FISA court has gone from pretending FBI violations don’t occur to pretending violations don’t matter. Only task left is to cease pretending Americans have any constitutional right to privacy.” FISA court Chief Judge James Boasberg lamented “apparent widespread violations” of the legal restrictions for FBI searches but shrugged them off and permitted the scouring of Americans’ personal data to continue.

    Alas, there was no bureaucratic repentance. The feds revealed in 2022 that “fewer than 3,394,053” Americans’ privacy had been zapped by FBI warrantless searches using Section 702. Why didn’t the feds use an alternative headline for the press release: “More than 320,974,609 Americans not illegally searched by the FBI?” That report was issued by the Office of Civil Liberties, Privacy, and Transparency of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. But there was scant transparency aside from a raw number that raised far more questions than it answered.

    Almost two million of those searches involved an investigation of Russian hacking. Yet there aren’t that many hackers in the United States. The State Department’s Global Engagement Center presumed that anyone whose tweets agreed with a position of the Russian government should be banned by Twitter for being a Russian agent. Did the FBI use a similar “catch-all” standard to justify pilfering two million Americans’ email and other online data?

    Exemption from the Constitution 

    In May 2023, a heavily redacted FISA court decision revealed that the FBI continued exempting itself from the Constitution. For each American that the FISA court authorized the FBI to target, the FBI illicitly surveilled almost a thousand additional Americans. The FBI admitted to conducting 278,000 illicit searches of Americans in 2020 and early 2021 (the period covered by the FISA court ruling released in May 2023).

    The FBI conducted illegal secret searches of the emails and other data of 133 people arrested during the protests after the killing of George Floyd in 2020.

    The FBI conducted 656 warrantless searches to see if they could find any derogatory information on people they planned to use as informants. The FBI also routinely conducted warrantless searches on “individuals listed in police homicide reports, including victims, next-of-kin, witnesses, and suspects.” Even the Justice Department complained those searches were improper.

    The FBI seems to have presumed that any American suspected of supporting the January 6, 2021, Capitol ruckus forfeited his constitutional rights. An FBI analyst exploited FISA to unjustifiably conduct searches on 23,132 Americans citizens “to find evidence of possible foreign influence, although the analyst conducting the queries had no indications of foreign influence,” according to FISA Chief Judge Rudolph Contreras. The FBI also routinely conducted warrantless searches on “individuals listed in police homicide reports, including victims, next-of-kin, witnesses, and suspects.”

    For 20 years, FISA judges have whined about FBI agents lying to the court. As long as the FBI periodically promises to repent, the FISA court entitles them to continue decimating the Fourth Amendment. Chief FISA Judge Contreras lamented: “Compliance problems with the querying of Section 702 information have proven to be persistent and widespread.” The FBI responded to the damning report with piffle: “We are committed to continuing this work and providing greater transparency into the process to earn the trust of the American people and advance our mission of safeguarding both the nation’s security, and privacy and civil liberties, at the same time.”

    The FBI crime wave

    FBI officials stress that any violations of Americans’ privacy is “incidental.” Since the FBI didn’t intend to violate Americans’ rights, it was a no-fault error — or millions of no-fault errors. There is no chance that police will adopt the same standard for absolving drunk drivers who did not intend to kill anyone they crashed into. Even when a media star such as Tucker Carlson may have been pulled into the 702 mire, the system manages to whitewash itself.

    The FBI’s perpetual crime wave created a hornet’s nest on Capitol Hill. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) asked: “How much longer must we watch the FBI brazenly spy on Americans before we strip it of its unchecked authority?” Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) declared, “We need a pound of flesh. We need to know someone has been fired.”

    House Republicans, led by House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), pushed a bipartisan reform of 702 named he Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act, which would have required the FBI to get a warrant from a federal judge for most of its queries to the NSA database. Jordan’s proposal would have also sharply reduced the number of FBI officials with access to the NSA trove. Jordan’s bill included the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, which “stops law enforcement from buying data that should require a court order,” a scandal tagged in a New York Post op-ed headlined “Feds are buying your life with your tax dollars.”

    Congressional impotence

    FISA epitomizes the mirage of constitutional checks and balances in our times. When Congress returns to FISA with the short-term authorization, the House will consider a FISA “reform” bill the Intelligence Committee unanimously approved. The House Intelligence Committee acts like a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Deep State. Unfortunately, these are the members of Congress with special access to federal dirt — and they have largely chosen to ignore the crimes committed by the spies they champion and bankroll.

    Former Justice Department lawyer Marc Zwillinger is one of a handful of FISA court amici allowed to comment on cases or policies in the secret court. He issued a public warning that the House Intelligence bill expands the definition of “electronic communication service providers” covered by FISA compliance obligations to include “business landlords, shared workspaces, or even hotels where guests connect to the Internet.”

    In other words, the FISA expansion could affect your next visit to Comfort Inn — and you thought Wi-Fi service was already bad! Former Justice Department lawyer Elizabeth Goitein warns, “Hotels, libraries, coffee shops, and other places that offer wifi to their customers could be forced to serve as surrogate spies. They could be required to configure their systems to ensure that they can provide the government access to entire streams of communications.” The bill could also cover any repairman who works on such equipment. That bill should be titled, Biden Big Brother Better Act.

    The FISA reauthorization was included in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2024, a 3000-page “must pass” bill that Congress considered in December. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who led the opposition to the bill in the Senate, urged fellow senators not to “trust any bill so large that it has to be delivered by handcart.” But to no avail.

    The tyranny of the FISA court

    The FISA court has perpetually dismally failed to defend Americans’ constitutional rights. Washington must finally admit that there is no secret “doing God’s work” clause in the Constitution that entitles FBI agents to trample Americans’ privacy and liberty.

    Will Congress show more gumption when the short-term FISA reauthorization expires in April? When FISA was up for renewal in 2012, I tweeted, “Only a fool would expect members of Congress to give a damn about his rights and liberties.” Unless Congress puts me to shame, FISA should be renamed the “‘Trust Me, Chumps!’ Surveillance Act.”

    This article was originally published in the March 2024 issue of Future of Freedom.

    The post The Never-Ending Federal Surveillance Crime Spree appeared first on CounterPunch.org.


    This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by James Bovard.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The Jakarta Post: Stop fighting fire with fire in Papua – it only leads to a bigger fire

    EDITORIAL: The Jakarta Post

    It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers.

    This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. One clip shows the man’s head being beaten with a rod, while another has his back slashed by a blade that looks like a combat knife.

    After initially denying the assailants in the footage were military personnel, the TNI issued on Monday a rare apology and said that 13 soldiers had been arrested following the viral video.

    THE JAKARTA POST

    “I apologise to all Papuans, and we will work to ensure this is never repeated,” said Cenderawasih Military Commander in Papua Major General Izak Pangemanan.

    That rare apology is a positive sign, but it is not enough. We have had enough pledges from the military about not inflicting more violence on Papuans, but time and again blood is spilled in the name of the military and police campaign against armed separatist [pro-independence] groups.

    The resource-rich Papua region has seen escalating violence since 2018, when the military increased its presence there in response to deadlier and more frequent attacks, allegedly committed by armed rebels.

    Throughout 2023 alone, there were 49 acts of violence by security forces against civilians recorded by the rights group Commission for Missing Person and Victims of Violence (Kontras) in the form of, among others, forceful arrest, torture and shooting. At least 67 people were injured and 41 others lost their lives in the violence.

    Also according to Kontras, some of the arrested civilians could not be proven to have ties to the armed rebel groups, particularly the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB).

    In regard to this week’s viral videos, the TNI claimed that the man beaten in the video was identified as Defianus Kogoya, a separatist [pro-independence activist] who planned to burn down a health center in Central Papua.

    Whether Defianus was a rebel or civilian, what the soldiers did to him is unjustified, because no national or international law allows the torture of members of hostile forces.

    The Geneva Conventions and its additional protocols have at least seven articles banning torture. There are also other sets of regulations banning cruel or inhuman treatment of captured enemies.

    National regulations also prohibit security forces personnel from committing unnecessary violent acts. Article 351 of the Criminal Code mandates two years and eight months’ imprisonment for any individuals committing torture, a provision that also applies to military personnel.

    For soldiers, the punishment can be heavier as they face the possibility of getting an additional one third of the punishment if they are found guilty of torture by a military court.

    The TNI also announced on Monday that it had arrested 13 soldiers allegedly involved in the incidents in the video. The investigations are still ongoing, but the military promised to name them as suspects soon.

    These might be good first steps, but they may mean nothing if their superiors are not prosecuted alongside the foot soldiers. At the very least, the TNI must ensure that the 13 suspects are prosecuted thoroughly in a military court of justice.

    The TNI should also work harder to prevent systemic issues that allow such violence to occur. A TNI spokesperson acknowledged on Monday that the military was far from perfect. That is good, but it would be better if the TNI actually worked in a transparent manner on how it addresses that imperfection.

    Overall, the government and especially the incoming administration of President-elect Prabowo Subianto must make more serious efforts at achieving a long-lasting peace in Papua.

    Sending more troops has proven to merely lead to escalation. The incoming government should consider the possibility that fighting fire with fire, only leads to a bigger fire.

    This editorial in The Jakarta Post was published yesterday, 27 March 2024, under the title “Stop fighting fire with fire”.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Fiji state appeals Banimarama and Qiliho sentences in corruption case

    RNZ Pacific

    Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case.

    Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with a fine of FJ$1500 ($NZ$1110) for abuse of office by the Suva Magistrates Court earlier today.

    Magistrate Seini Puamau announced that both their convictions would not be registered.

    “The sentence delivered by Magistrate Puamau is unsatisfactory, is wrong both in fact and in law and does not reflect the considerations and tariff of cases or matters of similar nature,” Acting Director of Public Prosecution John Rabuku said in a statement following the sentencing.

    The notice of appeal against the sentence was filed in the High Court this afternoon.

    The state has filed four grounds of appeal:

    • a. That the sentence imposed by the learned Magistrate against both the Respondents are manifestly lenient and in breach of sentencing principles, case laws and the tariff set in other similar matters and offences.
    • b. That the learned Magistrate erred in law and in fact when she made a finding that there were no aggravating factors against the Respondents.
    • c. That the learned Magistrate erred in law and in fact in considering irrelevant factors in sentencing the Respondents; and
    • d. That the learned Magistrate erred in law and in fact when she made a finding that there was no victim and that the offending was a technical breach by both Respondents.

    Lowest-level sentence
    An absolute discharge is the lowest-level sentence that an offender can get. It means no conviction was registered against Bainimarama.

    State broadcaster FBC News reports that Magistrate Puamau considered Bainimarama’s health.

    The 69-year-old was sentenced alongside Qiliho, who was given a FJ$1500 fine without conviction as well.

    The absolute discharge and a fine without conviction was given despite the prosecutors last week urging Magistrate Puamau to order immediate custodial sentences towards the high end of the tariff for both men — which would be no less than five years in jail for Bainimarama and 10 years for Qiliho.

    RNZ Pacific reported earlier today that a Fiji governance professor, Dr Vijay Naidu, said the magistrate had been sypathetic to both men.

    “It is surprising in that the sentencing is like the minimalist kind of approach,” he said.

    “I didn’t expect the magistrate to sentence them for the maximum of you know 10 . . . and five years, but the sentence now is quite farcical because these persons are found guilty and they are given sentences that, to say the least, is quite ludicrous.”

    He said Bainimarama was “not out of the woods yet” because there was a string of other charges that he would face in the coming months.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesian military impunity, poor training condemned over torture of Papuans

    Jubi/West Papua Daily

    Repeated cases of Indonesian military (TNI) soldiers torturing civilians in Papua have been evident, as seen in the viral video depicting the torture of civilians in the Puncak Regency allegedly done by soldiers of Raider 300/Brajawijaya Infantry Battalion.

    There is a pressing need for stringent law enforcement and the evaluation of the deployment of TNI troops from outside Papua to the region.

    Frits Ramandey, the head of the Papua Office of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM Papua), said that since 2020, Komnas HAM Papua had handled several cases of alleged torture by TNI soldiers against civilians.

    “This [case of torture against civilians] is not the first to occur in Papua,” said Ramandey said this week.

    Ramandey cited the case of the torture and murder of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani in Intan Jaya Regency in September 2020.

    He also mentioned cases of violence against people with disabilities in Merauke in July 2021.

    Torture of children
    In 2022, Komnas HAM Papua also dealt with cases of civilian torture in Mappi regency, as well as the torture of seven children in the Puncak regency.

    In Mimika regency, four Nduga residents were murdered and mutilated, and three children were tortured in Keerom regency.

    Ramandey said that the cases handled by Komnas HAM indicated that the torture experienced by civilians was extremely brutal, inhumane, and violated human rights.

    According to Ramandey, similar methods of torture used by the military were employed during Indonesia’s New Order regime.

    Head of the Representative Office of Komnas HAM Papua, Frits Ramandey (centre),
    Head of the Representative Office of Komnas HAM Papua, Frits Ramandey (centre), with colleagues presenting the statement about the latest allegations of Indonesian military torture in Jayapura City, Papua, last weekend. Image: Jubi/Theo Kelen

    “They tend to repeatedly commit torture. [The modus operandi] used [is reminiscent of] the New Order regime, using drums, tying up individuals, rendering them helpless, allowing perpetrators to freely carry out torture,” he said.

    Ramandey emphasised that such torture only perpetuated the cycle of violence in Papua.

    Human rights training
    He insisted that TNI soldiers deployed in Papua must receive proper training on human rights. Additionally, soldiers involved in torture cases must be prosecuted.

    “Otherwise, the cycle of violence will continue because [the torture that occurs] will breed hatred, resentment, and anger,” said Ramandey.

    Ramandey called for an evaluation of the deployment of TNI troops from outside Papua to the region.

    According to Ramandey, TNI troops from outside Papua would be better placed under the control of the local Military Area Command (Kodam) instead of the current practice of under the Operational Control of the Joint Defence Region Command (Kogabwilhan) III.

    He believed that the Papua conflict could only be resolved through peaceful dialogue. He urged the state to create space for such peaceful dialogue, including humanitarian dialogue advocated by Komnas HAM in 2023.

    Repetition due to impunity
    In a written statement last weekend, the director of Amnesty International Indonesia, Usman Hamid, said that the right of every individual to be free from torture was part of internationally recognised norms.

    Usman said that Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and General Comment No. 20 on Article 7 of the ICCPR had affirmed that no one could be subjected to practices of torture/cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment under any circumstances.

    “No one in this world, including in Papua, should be treated inhumanely and have their dignity degraded, let alone resulting in loss of life,” wrote Usman.

    Usman criticised the practice of impunity towards suspected perpetrators of various past cases, which had led to repeated cases of torture of civilians by TNI soldiers.

    “These actions keep repeating because there has been no punishment for members who have been proven to have committed crimes such as kidnapping, torture, and even loss of life,” he said.

    According to Jubi’s records, TNI soldiers are suspected of repeatedly being involved in the torture of civilians in Papua.

    On February 22, 2022, TNI soldiers allegedly assaulted seven children in Sinak District, Puncak Regency, after a soldier from 521/Dadaha Yodha Infantry Battalion 521, Second Pvt. Kristian Sandi Alviando, lost his SS2 weapon at PT Modern hangar, Tapulunik Sinak Airport.

    The seven children subjected to torture were Deson Murib, Makilon Tabuni, Pingki Wanimbo, Waiten Murib, Aton Murib, Elison Murib, and Murtal Kulua. Makilon Tabuni later died.

    Killed and mutilated
    On August 22, 2022, a number of TNI soldiers allegedly killed and mutilated four residents of Nduga in Settlement Unit 1, Mimika Baru District, Mimika Regency.

    The four victims of murder and mutilation were Arnold Lokbere, Irian Nirigi, Lemaniel Nirigi, and Atis Tini.

    On August 28, 2022, soldiers from Raider 600/Modang Infantry Battalion allegedly apprehended and assaulted four intoxicated individuals in Mappi Regency, South Papua Province.

    The four individuals arrested for drunkenness were Amsal Pius Yimsimem, Korbinus Yamin, Lodefius Tikamtahae, and Saferius Yame.

    Komnas HAM Papua said that these four individuals also experienced abuse resulting in injuries all over their bodies.

    On August 30, 2022, soldiers stationed at Bade Post, Edera District, Mappi Regency, allegedly committed assault resulting in the death of Bruno Amenim Kimko and severe injuries to Yohanis Kanggun.

    A total of 18 soldiers from Raider 600/Modang Infantry Battalion were suspects in the case.

    On October 27, 2022, three children in Keerom Regency, Rahmat Paisei, 15; Bastian Bate, 13; and Laurents Kaung, 11; were allegedly abused by TNI soldiers at a military post in Arso II District, Arso, Keerom Regency, Papua.

    These three children were reportedly abused using chains, wire rolls, and hoses, requiring hospital treatment.

    On February 22, 2023, TNI soldiers at Lantamal X1 Ilwayap Post allegedly assaulted Albertus Kaize and Daniel Kaize. Albertus Kaize died as a result.

    Republished with permission from Jubi/West Papua Daily.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Amnesty urges review of Indonesian troops in Papua after torture video

    Asia Pacific Report

    Amnesty International Indonesia is calling for an evaluation of the placement of TNI (Indonesian military) in Papua after a video of a Papuan man being tortured by several soldiers at the Gome Post in Puncak regency, Central Papua, went viral on social media.

    “This incident was a [case of] cruel and inhuman torture that really damages our sense of justice,” said Amnesty International executive director Usman Hamid in a statement.

    “It tramples over humanitarian values that are just and civilised. To the families of the victim, we expressed our deep sorrow.”

    "Sadists!" . . . An Indonesian newspaper graphic of the torture video
    “Sadists!” . . . An Indonesian newspaper graphic of the torture video that went viral. Image: IndoLeft News

    Hamid said that no one in this world, including in Papua, should be treated inhumanely and their dignity demeaned — let alone to the point of causing the loss of life.

    “The statements by senior TNI officials and other government officials about a humanitarian approach and prosperity [in Papua] are totally meaningless.

    “It is ignored by the [military] on the ground,” he said.

    Hamid said that such incidents were able to be repeated because until now there had been no punishment for TNI members proven to have committed crimes of kidnapping, torture and the loss of life.

    Call for fact-finding team
    Hamid said Amnesty International was calling for a joint fact-finding team to be formed to investigate the abuse, including urging that an evaluation be carried on to the deployment of TNI soldiers in the land of Papua.

    “There must be a sharp reflection on the placement of security forces in the land of Papua which has given rise to people falling victim, both indigenous Papuans, non-Papuans, including the security forces themselves”, he said.

    Earlier, a short video containing an act of torture by TNI members went viral on social media. It shows a civilian who has been placed in an oil drum filled with water being tortured by members of the TNI.

    TNI Information Centre director (kapuspen) Major-General Nugraha Gumilar has revealed the identity of the person being tortured by the soldiers as allegedly being a member of a pro-independence resistance group — described by Indonesia as an “armed criminal group (KKB)” — named Definus Kogoya.

    “The rogue TNI soldiers committed acts of violence against a prisoner, a KKB member by the name of Definus Kogoya at the Gome Post in Puncak Regency, Papua,” he said when sought for confirmation on Saturday.

    Despite this, General Gumilar has still has not revealed any further information about the identity of the TNI members who committed the torture. He confirmed only that more than one member was involved in the abuse.

    He said an “intensive examination” was still being conducted and he pledged it would be transparent and act firmly against all of the accused torturers.

    “Later I will convey [more information] after the investigation is finished, what is clear is that it was more than one person if you see from the video”, he said.

    Note:
    The video (warning: contains graphic, violent content and viewer discretion is advised) of the Papuan man being tortured by TNI soldiers can be viewed on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJgAHYdLgVo (requires registration)

    or on the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) website: ahttps://www.ulmwp.org/president-wenda-a-crime-against-humanity-has-been-committed-in-yahukimo.

    [Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Amnesty Desak Evaluasi Penempatan TNI Buntut Aksi Penyiksaan di Papua”.]

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • How Chinese Organized Crime Is Dominating America’s Illegal Marijuana Market


    This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by ProPublica.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Australian group warns of new ‘arrests, torture’ in Papuan crackdown

    Asia Pacific Report

    An Australian solidarity group for West Papua today warned of a fresh “heavy handed” Indonesia crackdown on Papuan villagers with more “arrests and torture”.

    Joe Collins of the Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) gave the warning in the wake of the deployment of 30 elite rangers last week at the Ndeotadi 99 police post in Paniai district, Central Papua, following a deadly assault there by Papuan pro-independence resistance fighters.

    Two Indonesian police officers were killed in the attack.

    The AWPA warning also follows mounting outrage over a brutal video of an Indonesian Papuan man being tortured in a fuel drum that has gone viral.

    Collins called on the federal government to “immediately condemn” the torture of West Papuans by the Australian-trained Indonesian security forces.

    “If a security force sweep occurs in the region, we can expect the usual heavy-handed approach by the security forces,” Collins said in a statement.

    “It’s not unusual for houses and food gardens to be destroyed during these operations, including the arrest and torture of Papuans.

    “Local people usually flee their villages creating more IDP [internally displaced people]”.

    60,000 plus IDPs
    Human rights reports indicate there are more than 60,000 IDP in West Papua.

    “The recent brutal torture of an indigenous Papuan man shows what can happen to West Papuans who fall foul of the Indonesian security forces,” Collins said.

    “Anyone seeing this video which has gone viral must be shocked by the brutality of the military personal involved. 

    The video clip was shot on 3 February 2024 during a security force raid in Puncak regency.

    “The Australian government should immediately condemn the torture of West Papuans by the Indonesian security forces [which] Australia trains and holds exercises with.

    “Do we have to remind the government of Article 7of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights? It states:

    No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In particular, no one shall be subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific experimentation.

    “As more Papuans become aware of the horrific video, they may respond by holding rallies and protests leading to more crackdowns on peaceful demonstrators,” Collins said.

    “Hopefully Jakarta will realise the video is being watched by civil society, the media and government officials around the world and will control its military in the territory.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ‘Committed to human rights’, claims Indonesia over West Papua torture

    The Indonesian government has confirmed it is investigating a viral video showing security forces in Papua torturing a civilian.

    The video — which can be seen here – shows an indigenous Papuan man with his hands tied behind his back in an open fuel drum filled with water being kicked, punched and sliced with a knife by a group of men, some of whom are wearing Indonesian military uniforms.

    In an email response, the Indonesian Embassy in New Zealand said: “The incident is deeply regrettable.”

    “The government of Indonesia is committed to its long-standing policy of respecting and promoting human rights as well as its strict policy of zero impunity for misconducts [sic] by security forces,” it said.

    “The investigation to the matter is currently taking place.”

    The embassy said “since this is an ongoing investigation” it will not be able to comment further.

    ‘Speak up’ — campaigners
    Meanwhile, West Papua solidarity groups in Aotearoa are calling on the New Zealand government to register its concerns with Indonesia after the torture video surfaced online.

    West Papua Action Aotearoa spokesperson Catherine Delahunty said New Zealand must speak out against ongoing human rights abuses in Papua.

    “Well we are calling on the New Zealand government to speak up about this,” she said.

    “The very least they can do is to challenge Indonesia about this incident and its context which is the ongoing state military violence against civilians.”

    The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) president Benny Wenda is calling for a UN human rights visit to West Papua.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • The Jewish Defense League is at Gaza’s Border

    Despite Palestinians in Gaza facing a genocide, despite indifference from those in Washington who could stop it, and despite glee from Tel Aviv and the majority of the Israeli population over the mass death and suffering, it would seem that there would be nothing more that could faze those of us who want justice for Palestine.

    It is as if we were not already drowning in waves of outrage and despair as new waves continue to barrel in. In addition to the IDF denying aid from coming into Gaza, many groups of Israel’s most depraved citizens are sitting in and blocking aid trucks from coming into the territory as well and have been doing so since at least January. These are a tiny part of the depraved 60% of the population that do not want Netanyahu to release Palestinian prisoners or to halt the bombardment of Gaza in making any deal to return Israeli hostages.

    Can’t get any worse? Who is leading those blocking the aid? Meet Andy Green, who also goes by Baruch Ben Yosef. Green is one of the leaders of the citizen blockade and he was also a member of the Jewish Defence League (JDL). Green is a suspect in the 1985 murder by bombing of Palestinian-American Alex Odeh, the then-West Coast Regional Director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. The FBI seems to want us to think that they are serious about solving the murder. Green has been a suspect since the late-80s and his presence in Israel was discovered by an Israeli journalist.

    The JDL is a far-right, racist terrorist group that is believed to be responsible for Odeh’s murder. The group’s chairman, Irv Rubin, was quoted at the time as saying that Odeh “got what he deserved.” Rubin and another member in 2001 were charged with conspiring to bomb government property. He died in jail from suicide while awaiting trial. The other member pled guilty and was killed in a Phoenix prison in 2005. As of 2015, the JDL-New York chapter has been inactive, but Toronto and Jerusalem are active.

    Green is not only out in the open, literally, but he is right now causing even more death and suffering than he and all of the JDL combined ever did or could think about doing. His contact information is listed for his specific group’s fundraising to continue to block the aid. The US could easily get him. In 2021, Israel extradited to the United States Gershon Kranczer, who was accused of sexually abusing two relatives in New York City, one being only six years old at the time. The so-called “Right of Return” allows any Jewish person to attain automatic citizenship in Israel and of course, displace Palestinians by way of settlements, that’s a given. It has also been used by dozens of American men, who have either been accused of or convicted of pedophilia, to flee US authorities by escaping to Israel and setting up a new life, according to a CBS News investigation.

    The genocide in Gaza continues as we are coming up on the 45th anniversary of Alex Odeh’s murder, which was a heinous act not only against him and his family, but against all Arab Americans. Now, a Jewish Defence League member gets to commit more crimes against Palestine and pile them above the clouds, on an already sky high alter of indignities, humiliations, thefts, rapes, massacres, shootings, bombings, child murders, famine, with all of the other horrors.

    How high will it have to go before it reaches God?

    The post The Jewish Defense League is at Gaza’s Border first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • Arrogant Alina Habba Says She’s Confident Trump’s $464 Million Fraud Verdict Will Get Dismissed

    During a podcast interview this week, Trump lawyer Alina Habba said that she is confident that she will get the $464 million fraud verdict against Donald Trump dismissed upon appeal. Ironically, this interview was conducted BEFORE Trump’s lawyers had to tell the court that he’s not able to pay the bond, which means that the […]

    The post Arrogant Alina Habba Says She’s Confident Trump’s $464 Million Fraud Verdict Will Get Dismissed appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Pivotal role of PNG’s village courts in curbing sorcery violence

    RNZ PACIFIC Q&A: By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist

    In Papua New Guinea, sorcery accusation-related violence (SARV) remains a significant form of violence across many parts of the country.

    Many of the hundreds of cases that are reported end up before the village court system, which has been the focus of a study by the PNG Institute of National Research in partnership with the Australian National University and Divine Word University.

    These institutions looked at the role of the village courts, when dealing with SARV cases, and how it can be improved.

    Miranda Forsyth from the ANU’s School of Regulation and Global Governance was one of the researchers involved and spoke with RNZ Pacific’s Don Wiseman about the issues.

    Don Wiseman (DW): This matter of sorcery accusation related violence does appear to be getting worse and worse across PNG, and while many of the victims’ cases are being taken to the village courts, this isn’t always working for them?

    Miranda Forsyth (MF): That’s right. So first of all, in terms of it getting worse and worse, we actually don’t know. What we do know is that it is a major problem that isn’t going away. There are hundreds of these cases every year. And we know that it is impacting upon different communities in different ways. And it’s traveling into provinces that had never used to be in before. So, for example, in Enga [Province], there weren’t these kinds of cases before about 2010.

    We also know that in some places where, traditionally, it was men who were being accused then, now women are being accused there. We also know that children are a growing group of victims of sorcery accusations.

    We can also say that it seems that some of the violence has changed as well. There’s a kind of a sexualised violence that’s often used when it’s women who are being accused, but doesn’t tend to have been around as prevalently in the past. So, just to contextualise a little bit, the claims that it’s growing — of course these crimes are very hidden, often the whole community is complicit.

    And so people don’t go to the police, they don’t go to the court. And that’s been the case forever, really. We don’t have any good data where we can say, ‘oh, clearly, these are the trends’. But there’s a lot more attention being paid to the issue now, which is fantastic.

    It certainly appears from the number of cases that are being reported in the newspapers and that are getting to the formal courts as well, that the numbers are growing. In terms of what happens when people go to see the village courts; what our research has found is that there are both challenges for the village court magistrates and there’s also a lot of really creative responses.

    DW: It’s clearly a challenging matter right across the country for officials at every level. But for these village magistrates working largely in isolation, it must be horrendously challenging?

    MF: Yes, particularly the village court magistrates who are not really clear themselves about what the law is, who might believe very strongly in sorcery, those are big challenges for them. Often, as well, it’s a village court magistrate against the entire community. So it puts their lives at risk.

    We’ve certainly documented a number of cases where village court magistrates have had their house burned down or been chased out of the village when they’ve been trying to act on behalf of the accused and the accused family. It’s quite a precarious position.

    What we find is that the village court magistrates are most successful when they can act in coalition with, for example, a sympathetic police officer or a strong religious leader or a strong village leader — a community leader of some sort, when there is support from a strong family member, as well.

    All of these things give credibility and help the village court magistrate to manage the case.

    DW: There are examples as well, though aren’t there in your research, of magistrates, who clearly believe the accusations of sorcery and end up siding with the perpetrators?

    MF: Absolutely. We’ve documented quite a number of those cases where the village court magistrates will require the person who’s been accused to pay compensation to their accusers for having performed sorcery. This is obviously a really problematic outcome for the person who’s been accused, that not only have they been accused, they’ve gone through what can often be horrendous physical violence, but then the justice system actually condemns them further and requires them to pay compensation.

    We’ve also documented some cases where the village court magistrates have also been involved in giving beatings to the people who have been accused. There are definitely those cases that are problematic. A number of those, however, were appealed to the higher courts and the higher courts then gave out sentences and issued very clear instructions to say that that was inappropriate. So there is some degree of oversight by those higher level courts.

    However, there are certainly village court magistrates who are really trying to be creative in the way in which they’re helping victims of SARV. They are, for example, issuing preventative audits. When it’s the suspicion and talk and gossip going around, and they’re getting on the front foot and they’re saying, ‘we are warning everybody that you are not allowed to take any action against these particular people’. That works better when they’re able to rely upon a police officer to support them.

    We also find that some village court magistrates are able to use their mediating functions to really understand what’s going on at the heart of these accusations. Is it really about a fear of sorcery or is it about somebody wanting to take another wife, for example? Or are there land disputes that are really at the heart of this? And they then proactively get involved in mediating those underlying tensions so that the accusations themselves don’t develop any further.

    DW: It’s a question largely then of greater resourcing, more education for these people?

    MF: A lot of them [the magistrates] don’t have their salary paid on a regular basis. They don’t have regular training. They don’t have supports in terms of oversight by the higher courts. They don’t have police officers that they can call upon to help to keep the peace when they’re holding their meetings. There is a great need for more support for village for magistrates, who are often doing an amazing job against all odds.

    DW: What else could be done to improve their lot and improve the lives of sorcery accusation victims?

    MF: One of the things that we’ve proposed is that there are creative training materials that are distributed, for example, through people’s smartphones, so that they can refresh their memory, ‘Oh, that’s right. That’s what the law says and these are the different strategies that we can use to address these cases’, short videos, for example, or else just little pads that they can keep in their pocket.

    We also thought about the fact that it would be a good idea to facilitate the setting up of direct communication links between village court magistrates and the police and SARV victims so that they can quickly be activated when people are afraid that something is going to go down, then they can step in. Because what we find is that the earlier the intervention is made, the more chance it’s got of being effective.

    Once things really get out of control. It’s very hard for anybody to stop it, unfortunately.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • PNG judge says ‘no double standards’ – expat prisoners must do their time

    By Melyne Baroi in Port Moresby

    A senior National Court judge in Papua New Guinea has dismissed an expatriate prisoner’s request to have his sentence suspended due to poor health.

    Judge Panuel Mogish said the court was interested in maintaining a standard that was equal to both non-citizens and citizens of Papua New Guinea.

    “Suspension is impossible for an expatriate as these expatriates deliberately come into this country and cause an offence so they have to be punished accordingly within this country instead of breaking the law then [using] medical reasons to flee,” he said.

    Justice Mogish was responding to submissions made by a 52-year-old Italian drug trafficker, Carlo D’Attansio, whose lawyer initially asked that his client who has cancer be given mercy of the court and have part or the whole of his sentence suspended.

    D’Attanasia, is one of four men who were convicted of concealing bags of cocaine weighing 611kg and worth K200 million (about NZ$88 million) between February and July 2020 in the vicinity of Papa and Lealea, Central Province.

    However, since being locked up, D’Attanasio has been pleading to the court about his cancer which he said was life threatening.

    He has been admitted to the Paradise Private hospital but continuously brings to court complaints that he is not being treated well.

    ‘Life-threatening’ says letter
    Yesterday, his lawyer told the court that the chief executive officer of the private hospital had written a statement to show that D’Attanasio’s condition was life-threatening and he would need medical treatment overseas.

    D’Attanasio therefore asked the court to either suspend his sentence in part or full, or impose a lesser penalty on him.

    The state prosecutions objected to the request saying he was a main actor in the crime and deserved the highest penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment.

    Justice Mogish then said: “It could be seen as a double standard.”

    Melyne Baroi is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Former GOP Official Sentenced To 400 Years In Prison For Sexually Assaulting Children

    A former Republican precinct chairman from the state of Texas has been sentenced to FOUR CENTURIES in prison after he was convicted of, among other things, four counts of sexually assaulting children. Republicans love to say that they are the Party protecting our children from “groomers,” but all the reports of child abuse and assault […]

    The post Former GOP Official Sentenced To 400 Years In Prison For Sexually Assaulting Children appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Christchurch attacks 5 years on: terrorist’s online history gives clues to preventing future atrocities

    ANALYSIS: By Chris Wilson, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau; Ethan Renner, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau; Jack Smylie, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau, and Michal Dziwulski, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

    As our research has previously revealed, the man who attacked two mosques in Christchurch on 15 March 2019, killing 51 people, posted publicly online for five years before his terrorist atrocity.

    Here we provide further information about Brenton Tarrant’s posting. This article has two main goals.

    First, by placing his online posting against his other online and offline activities, we gain a far more complete picture of the path to his attack.

    Second, we want to show how his online community played a role in his radicalisation. This is important, as the same can happen to others immersed in that community.

    In combining his online and offline activity here we do not seek to attribute blame to those who might have been expected to detect this behaviour. It is exceptionally difficult to identify terrorists online.

    And yet, history is full of difficult problems that have been overcome. We use the benefit of hindsight to provide greater understanding of Tarrant’s pathway than has previously been available.

    The aim is to prevent similar attacks by better understanding how such people act and how they might be detected.

    Words and deeds
    In the timeline below, we focus on Tarrant’s activity in 2018, following his first visit to Dunedin’s Bruce Rifle Club on December 14 2017, until his final overseas trip in October. It is for this period that we have the most comprehensive online posting history.

    A timeline of Brenton Tarrant's activities in 2018
    Graphic: The Conversation, CC BY-SA

    In 2024, we have both the benefit of hindsight and the accumulation of information relating to the attack. However, this triangulation of online and offline activities illustrates the ways those contemplating terrorist violence might act.

    We can now see, for example, that Tarrant bought high-powered firearms on three occasions over a six-week period in March and April 2018. And he posted publicly twice on the online imageboard 4chan about his plans for racially motivated violence, and his veneration of a perpetrator of a similar attack.

    Tarrant therefore not only “leaked” his plans for violence, he did so at the very moment he was buying weapons for it.

    Over 20 days in July and August, Tarrant presented to hospital with gunshot wounds, and began selling weapons online under the username Mannerheim (the name of a Finnish nationalist leader revered for defeating the communists in the country’s civil war).

    He also posted publicly about his anger at the presence of mosques in South Island cities (claiming one had replaced a church). He wrote “soon” when another poster suggested setting fire to these places of worship.

    A month later he attempted to sell weapons on online marketplace TradeMe, using a prominent white nationalist slogan — “14 Words” — in his username. (Strangely, this clear red flag was mentioned only once in the royal commission report on the attacks.)

    TradeMe removed one of these advertisements for violating its terms of use. That caused Tarrant to move to another forum — NZ Hunting and Shooting Forums — to complain.

    Extremist community
    Our study has also revealed how important the 4chan community is to the radicalisation of individuals like Tarrant. In contrast to the fleeting human interaction he had with others as he travelled the world, 4chan was Tarrant’s community.

    4chan’s /pol/ (politically incorrect) board became his home. Here he interacted with others over long periods, imagining he was speaking to the same people over months and years, and assuming many of them had become his friends.

    We have found that, while creating a sense of belonging and community, /pol/ also works to create extremists in both direct and indirect ways.

    Its anonymous nature (users are assigned a unique ID number for each thread, rather than a username) has two effects. One is well known, the other identified in our study.

    First, anonymity encourages behaviour that would be absent if the poster’s identity was known. Second, anonymity is frustrating for those who wish to “be someone”, who crave respect and notoriety.

    We have documented the way Tarrant (and others) strive to gain status in a discussion, only to have to start again when they move to a new thread and are given a new ID. This lack of ongoing recognition is agonising for some individuals, who go to lengths to obtain respect.

    Anonymity and peer respect
    And just like a real-world fascist movement, /pol/ venerates violent action as necessary for the vitality and regeneration of the community.

    When a terrorist attack, school shooting or other violent event occurs, users celebrate these events in so-called “happening” threads. These threads are longer, more emotional and excited than any other discussions. Participants often claim the individual at the centre of the event is “/ourguy/” (a reference to the /pol/ board).

    The threads are also highly anticipatory: many users believe this event will finally push society into violent chaos and race war.

    These dynamics are closely connected. For those who seek recognition and status on the bulletin board, such as Tarrant, the excited attention and adoration given to those who perpetrate high-profile violence is the clearest path to the peer respect that the anonymity of the board otherwise denies them.

    As harrowing as this finding is, we contend that gaining respect from their online community is in itself a crucial motivation for some perpetrators of far-right terrorism.

    The nature of this extreme but easily accessible corner of the internet means any hope Tarrant was a one-off — and that this won’t happen again — is misguided.

    The authors acknowledge the expert contribution of tactical and forensic linguist and independent researcher Julia Kupper. More information about our study will be released at heiaglobal.com. Our research was approved by the University of Auckland Human Participant Ethics Committee. A paper based on this study has been submitted for peer review and publication.The Conversation

    Chris Wilson, co-founder and director of Hate & Extremism Insights Aotearoa (HEIA) and director, Master of Conflict and Terrorism Studies, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau; Ethan Renner, researcher, Hate & Extremism Insights Aotearoa, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau; Jack Smylie, research analyst, Hate & Extremism Insights Aotearoa, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau, and Michal Dziwulski, researcher, Hate & Extremism Insights Aotearoa, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Young woman found dead with face skinned in Enga in spite of ceasefire

    By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby

    Despite a “historic” ceasefire agreement in Papua New Guinea between Enga authorities and tribal leaders after months of bitter warfare, a young woman has been found brutally killed near Kaekin village, Wapenamanda.

    Despite the peace agreement and signing concluded in Port Moresby last Thursday and officiated by the Provincial Administrator Sandis Tsaka and Police Commissioner David Manning, the killing of the woman highlights that many others do not support the ceasefire.

    The victim is believed to be in her early 20s with the killing said to have taken place on Friday morning.

    The body was found lying next to the main Okuk Highway at Kaikin Pausa village within the tribal fighting zone by several local boys from Yaibos and was reported to police.

    Police and security forces on the ground attended to the crime scene to establish the identity of the deceased, but it was very difficult to identify her as her face was believed to be skinned and removed by a sharp object.

    Police said that the deceased was killed somewhere else and dumped along the road.

    Police were investigating.

    ‘Three-month ceasefire’
    RNZ Pacific reports the warring tribal groups in Wapenamanda district in Enga Province had agreed to a “three-month unconditional ceasefire”.

    The agreement, reached in negotiations in Port Moresby, should end killings involving tribes in the Middle Lai, Aiyale and Tsaka Valley of Wapenamanda.

    However, the Post-Courier reports that no agreement has been reached to surrender guns after the leaders began historic peace talks last week.

    The newspaper said intense fighting, which began more than three years ago, has left hundreds dead, millions of kina worth of properties destroyed, and thousands left homeless.

    Miriam Zarriga is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Dems Bury Their Heads As Bob Menendez Racks Up MORE Criminal Charges

    Democratic Senator Bob Menendez was hit with even more indictments for his corruption, but Democrats in the Senate don’t think it’s a good idea to kick him out of office. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more. Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

    The post Dems Bury Their Heads As Bob Menendez Racks Up MORE Criminal Charges appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Survivors Of Dozier “Reform School” FINALLY Compensated For Decades Of Murder & Abuse

    For decades, teenagers were abused and sometimes even killed at a reform school in a small Florida town. Those teenagers are now in their golden years, but their fight for justice was finally won thanks to legislation granting them some relief for their years of suffering. Mike Papantonio is joined by attorney Troy Rafferty to explain what happened. Abused […]

    The post Survivors Of Dozier “Reform School” FINALLY Compensated For Decades Of Murder & Abuse appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Trump Didn’t Actually Pay The $91 Million Bond To Appeal Defamation Verdict Against Him

    It looks like Donald Trump’s bond problems haven’t actually been solved, as the former President has still failed to actually put up the $91 million that he owes for the bond in order to appeal the E. Jean Carroll defamation verdict against him. Instead, the insurance company that posted the bond gave Trump 30 days […]

    The post Trump Didn’t Actually Pay The $91 Million Bond To Appeal Defamation Verdict Against Him appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Murder Taking Place At “Reform Schools”

    America’s Lawyer E89: TikTok might be on its way out the door if politicians in Washington get their way. We’ll explain why this is actually happening. Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and his wife have been hit with a dozen more indictments, but there doesn’t seem to be any urgency to kick him out of office. […]

    The post Murder Taking Place At “Reform Schools” appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.

    This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.

  • Talks herald Wapenamanda massacre ceasefire in PNG tribal warfare

    PNG Post-Courier

    A ceasefire is expected on the battlefields of Wapenamanda in Papua New Guinea’s Enga Province that has claimed hundreds of lives and caused massive destruction to properties in three constituencies.

    According to lead peace negotiator and Enga Provincial Administrator Sandis Tsaka, a ceasefire agreement is anticipated to be signed this week among three parties to solve the crisis.

    These parties are the state and two warring tribal leaders to make way for the peace process to start.

    The leaders of both warring factions are currently involved in intense negotiations with the State Conflict Resolution team led by key negotiator and Chief Magistrate Mark Pupaka in Port Moresby.

    The state negotiating team comprises Deputy Police Commissioner (Operations) Dr Philip Mitna; Assistant Commissioner of Police Julius Tasion; newly appointed Enga provincial police commander Chief Superintendent Fred Yakasa; Enga Provincial Administrator Sandis Tsaka and Chief Magistrate Pupaka.

    The government negotiators are meeting and having discussions separately with each faction.

    According to the state team, the roundtable conference was brought to Port Moresby because a ceasefire agreement and subsequently a Preventive Order issued in September last year failed.

    Guerrilla-style warfare
    The preventive order did not work when the tribal factions took up arms in guerrilla-style warfare.

    The conference will ensure that both parties, including the allies of 25 tribes from Tsaka valley, Aiyale valley and Middle Lai constituencies, agree to an amicable resolution in consultations with neighbouring tribes.

    The Yopo tribe’s leader Roy Opone Andoi of Tsaka valley apologised in a public statement to the state for damaging government properties and for the lives lost in the three-year tribal conflict.

    The Yopo tribal alliance leader Roy Andoi (centre)
    The Yopo tribal alliance leader Roy Andoi (centre) accompanied by tribal leaders presenting their position paper to the state team in Port Moresby yesterday. Image: PNG Post-Courier

    Andoi said it was regrettable to see a “trivial” tribal conflict that started with his Yopo tribe and neighbouring Palinau tribe in Tsaka valley escalate to “unimaginable proportions”, displacing more than 40,000 people.

    “I want to apologise to the state, rival tribes and neighbouring communities and the country for all the damage, including negative images portrayed through the media during the course of the conflict,” he said.

    Andoi said he would like to take the opportunity to thank the government for appointing the state team, comprising Police Commissioner David Manning, Tsaka and Pupaka, to conduct roundtable discussions towards restoring peace and normalcy.

    He said the government’s intervention came in following the latest casualties, including a massacre of more than 50 men from the Palinau allies by Yopo allies during an intensified battle on February 28 near Birip and Hela Opone Technical College on the border of Wapenamanda and Wabag districts.

    Andoi said that with the help of the state team, he was hoping for a better outcome to bring back normalcy in the district and the province.

    Republished from the PNG Post-Courier with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • PNG police investigate bomb threat at Goroka courthouse in Highlands

    By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby

    Papua New Guinea police in Eastern Highlands are investigating a bomb threat that was sent via an email to the Goroka courthouse yesterday morning.

    Goroka police station commander Chief Inspector Timothy Pomoso confirmed the incident and threat.

    According to information received by the PNG Post-Courier, the email from someone by the name of “Adams Jailer” stated in the email that a “bomb will detonate at Goroka Court house today”.

    The email also said: “I am innocent, justice not served.”

    The threat added: “You don’t believe me, try mock me and see”.

    The email was signed off as “Kumul” — a bird of paradise in Tok Pisin.

    Chief Inspector Pomoso said: “Someone sent a threatening email that there’s a bomb planted at the Goroka courthouse.”

    “Police were deployed including our local task force and criminal investigation division units to clear the courthouse area by first removing everyone out.

    “We are investigating,” he added.

    More than a month ago, a bomb threat was also sent to another organisation which was attended to by police in Port Moresby.

    The emailed bomb threat
    The emailed bomb threat. Image: PNG Post-Courier

    A senior police officer said that a new trend of sending threats electronically was now occurring in Papua New Guinea.

    Miriam Zarriga is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • PNG MP Allan Bird on death threats: ‘Picking on me isn’t a smart thing to do’

    By Eleisha Foon, RNZ Pacific senior journalist

    Papua New Guinea’s rising voice as opposition candidate for prime minister, East Sepik Governor Allan Bird, has pushed back after addressing recent death threats.

    Bird told RNZ Pacific he has declined police protection and is opting to use his own security after his nomination as opposition candidate for prime minister resulted in alleged threats to his personal safety.

    “I was informed about 10 days ago of the threats against my life. I’ve heard a few more threats are in fact active,” he said.

    “So I thought, probably the best way to declare it would be to put it out in the public domain.”

    He said three senior government ministers informed him about the death threats and were no longer contacting him, due to concerns his phone was “being monitored”.

    Bird was confident in his security to keep him safe and said whoever was behind the threats had picked on the wrong person.

    “My people served with the allied forces in the Second World War. So my grandfather did that. He was uneducated. So picking on me is not a smart thing to do.”

    RNZ Pacific has contacted the PNG police for comment after Bird accused authorities of illegally monitoring his phone and looking for dirt to charge and arrest him.

    “I have nothing to hide. So, apparently, they haven’t found any dirt.”

    PNG riots aftermath
    “I do understand that they’re trying to connect me as one of the masterminds behind the Black Wednesday day events in Port Moresby.”

    He said it would be “almost impossible because I was out of the country prior to that happening. And then I understand they’re looking now at all my travel allowances, so they’re looking at that to see what they can find.”

    Regarding the threats, he said: “I’m not too stressed. These are some of the things you expect in PNG, otherwise you wouldn’t be in PNG.”

    Bird said he did not trust the country’s police and declined their offer for protection, opting to use his own personal security instead.

    “If things get pretty bad in the capital, I will just go back home. But for now, I’m just keeping a low profile, not really moving around, just restricting movements.”

    He addressed sceptics who criticised him for attempting to boost his profile to become PNG’s next prime minister.

    Bird said he had accepted the nomination as candidate out of “respect to his colleagues.”

    ‘Asked by my caucus’
    “I didn’t put my hand up. I was asked by my caucus.”

    He said, the country needed change, even if it was at the expense of his safety.

    “Who wants to run around with security guards all the time?

    “Whoever gets into the hot seat, whether it’s me or someone else, in all seriousness and honesty will soon to have to deal with these problems, the problems that are begging for solutions, and these are personal criticisms of Prime Minister Marape.”

    He said supporters of the nation’s current leader James Marape lacked proper education and said it was “like a cult following”.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • UPNG’s student body rejects rape allegations over campus video

    By Bramo Tingkeo in Port Moresby

    A disturbing video has surfaced of a female, alleged to be a rape victim, attempting to jump out of the Kuri Dom Lecture Building at the University of Papua New Guinea.

    UPNG Students Representative Council (SRC) president Joel Rimbu has dispelled this allegation, saying that the female was not a student — she was an outsider visiting her boyfriend, who is alleged to be a staff member.

    An argument broke out during their rendezvous where the frustrated female attempted to jump out of the building, while students filmed.

    Rimbu said he was at the location assessing the situation with Uniforce Security of UPNG.

    “She was later dropped of at the nearest bus stop to go home,” he said.

    “She refused to take the matter to the police.”

    Speaking about the safety of female students on campus, the SRC female vice-president, Ni Yumei Paul, immediately raised the incident with the Campus Risk Group (UniForce) and they were assured that the group would investigate and report back next week.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ‘Chopped boy with a bush knife’: A PNG massacre killer says revenge is ‘only way’

    Warning: This story contains details that may be distressing to some readers.

    By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist, and Scott Waide, RNZ Pacific PNG correspondent

    As women and children seek hope of a future without tribal fighting, the cycle of killing continues in Papua New Guinea’s remote Highlands.

    Tribal warfare dating back generations is being said to show no signs of easing and considered a complicated issue due to PNG’s complex colonial history.

    Following the recent massacre of more than 70 people, community leaders in Wabag held mediation talks in an effort to draw up a permanent solution on Tuesday, with formal peace negotiations set down for yesterday between the warring factions.

    A woman, who walked 20 hours on foot with seven children to flee the violence in the remote highlands, was at the meeting and told RNZ Pacific she wants the fighting to stop so she can return home.

    In 2019, the then police minister said killings of more than two dozen women and children “changed everything”.

    But a tribesman, who has asked to remain anonymous, told RNZ Pacific the only thing that had changed was it was easier to get guns.

    Multiple sources have told RNZ Pacific the government appears to be powerless in such remote areas, saying police and security forces are sent in by the government when conflict breaks out, there is a temporary pause to the fighting, then the forces leave, and the fighting starts again.

    More than 70 people died in the recent tribal fighting in the PNG Highlands. Many Engans have lamented that the traditional rules of war have been ignored as children have not been spared.
    More than 70 people died in the recent tribal fighting in the PNG Highlands. Many Engans have lamented that the traditional rules of war have been ignored as children have not been spared. Image: RNZ Pacific

    There are also concerns about a lack of political will at the national level to enforce the law using police and military due to tribal and political allegiances of local MPs, as recommendations made decades ago by former PNG Defence Force commander Major-General Jerry Singirok are yet to be fully implemented.

    While the government, police and community groups look at peaceful solutions, mercenaries are collecting munitions for the next retaliatory fight, multiple sources on the ground, including a mercenary, told us.

    Killing pays
    After “Bloody Sunday”, which left dozens dead in revenge killings, the men with guns were out of bullets.

    Tribal fighting in Papua New Gunea’s Enga Province reached boiling point on February 18, fuelled by a long-standing feud between different clans, which resulted in a mass massacre.

    The tribesman who spoke to RNZ Pacific said they did not want to fight anymore but believed there was no other option when someone from the “enemy” turned up on their land wanting to burn down their village.

    “Prime Minister [James Marape] — we want development in our villages,” he said, speaking from a remote area in the Highlands after his village was burnt to the ground.

    There is no employment, no infrastructure, no support, he said, adding that those were the things that would keep people busy and away from engaging in tribal conflict.

    At the moment killing people paid, he said.

    Hela, Southern Highlands, Enga, West Sepik and Western Province were the provinces most affected by PNG's February 2018 earthquake.
    Hela, Southern Highlands, Enga, West Sepik and Western Province were the provinces most affected by PNG’s February 2018 earthquake. Image: RNZ Pacific/Koroi Hawkins

    ‘Hundreds of lives lost’
    “Businessmen, leaders and educated elites are supplying guns, bullets and financing the engagement of gunmen,” Wapenamanda Open MP Miki Kaeok said.

    The MP is worried about the influence of money and guns, saying they have taken over people’s lives especially with the increase in engagement of local mercenaries and availability of military issued firearms.

    “Hundreds of lives have been lost. Properties worth millions of kina have been ransacked and destroyed. I don’t want this to continue. It must stop now,” Kaeok pleaded.

    Meanwhile, men in the Highlands are paid anything between K3000 (NZ$1300) to K10,000 (NZ$4,400) to kill, the tribesman claimed during the interview.

    Then, he called over one of the men involved in that fight, an alleged killer, to join the video interview.

    “Um this is the hire man,” he introduced him. “If they put K2000 (NZ$880) for him and say go burn down this village — he goes in groups — they clear the village, they give him money and he goes to his village . . . ”

    The “hire man”, standing slouched over holding a machete, looked at the camera and claimed 64 people were killed on one side and eight on another pushing the total death toll to more than 70.

    Wabag police told RNZ Pacific on Tuesday that 63 bodies had been recovered so far.

    “A lot of people died,” an inspector from Wabag told RNZ Pacific.

    The killings have not stopped there; a video has been circulating on social media platforms of what appears to be a young boy pleading for his life before he was killed.

    The video, seen by RNZ Pacific, shows the child being hit by a machete until he falls to the ground.

    The man who allegedly carried out the brutality was introduced to RNZ Pacific by the tribesman via video chat.

    “They recognise that this person was an enemy,” the tribesman — translating for the killer, who was standing in a line with other men holding machetes — told RNZ Pacific.

    “This small guy (referring to the dead child) came out of the bush to save his life. But he ended up in the hands of enemies.

    “And then they chopped him with a bush knife and he was dead.”

    “In revenge, he killed that small boy” because the killer’s three family members were killed about five months ago.

    Asked whether they were saddened that children have died in the violence, the killer said: “No one can spare their lives because he was included in the fight and he’s coming as a warrior in order to kill people,” our source translated.

    Killing people — “that’s the only way”, they said.

    Exporting guns
    The source explained military guns are a fairly recent addition to tribal fighting.

    He said that while fighting had been going on most of his life, military style weapons had only been in the mix for the last decade or so.

    He said getting a gun was relatively easy and all they had to do was wait in the bush for five days near the border with Indonesia.

    “We are using high-powered rifle guns that we are getting exported from West Papuans.”

    He added the change from tribe-on-tribe to clan-to-clan fighting has exacerbated the issue, with a larger number of people involved in any one incident.

    Mediation underway
    A Wapenamanda community leader in Enga Province Aquila Kunza said mediation was underway between the warring factions in the remote Highlands to prevent further violence.

    “The policemen are facilitating and meditating the peace mediation and they are listening,” Kunza said.

    Revenge killings had been ongoing for years and there was no sign of gunmen stopping anytime soon, Kunza said.

    “This fight has lasted about four years now and I know it will continue. It occurs intermittently, it comes and goes,” he said.

    “When there’s somebody around (such as the military), they go into hiding, when the army is gone because the government cannot support them anymore, the fighting erupts again.”

    Kunza has been housing women and children who fled the violence and after years of violence and watching police come and go, he is calling for a community-led approach.

    At a large community gathering in Wabag the main town of Enga on Tuesday people voiced their concerns.

    “The government must be prepared to give money to every family [impacted] and assist them to resettle back to their villages to make new gardens to build new houses,” Kunza said.

    He said formal peace negotiations are taking place today as residents from across the Enga Province are travelling to Wabag today for peace talks between the warring factions.

    ‘Value life’
    Many Engans have lamented that the traditional rules of war have been ignored as children have not been spared in the conflict and societal norms that governed their society have been broken.

    A woman who was kidnapped last year in Hela in the Bosavi region — a different area to where the recent massacre took place — and held for ransom said PNG was on the verge of being a failed state.

    “I’ve gone through this,” Cathy Alex told RNZ Pacific.

    “People told us who gave them their guns in Hela, people told us who supplied them munitions. People told us the solutions. People told us why tribal fights started, why violence is happening,” Alex shared.

    She said they managed to find out that killers got paid K2000 (NZ$880) for killing one person, that was in 2017.

    “For a property that’s worth K200/300,000 [up to NZ$130,000] that’s destroyed, the full amount goes to the person who caused the tribal fight,” she said.

    “How can you not value the life of a person?”

    James Marape on PNG National Parliament on 15 February 2024.
    Prime Minister James Marape says he was “deeply moved” and “very, very angry” about the massacre. Image: Screengrab/Loop PNG

    Government help
    With retaliations continuing the “hire man” who claims to have killed more than 20 people from warring tribes, said he is staring down death.

    “He would have to die on his land because…when they come they will fight…we have to shoot in order to protect my village,” the tribesman explained.

    “He said he’s not scared about it. He is not afraid of dying. He got a gun in order to shoot, they shoot him, and that’s finished.”

    “He’s really worried about his village not to burn down.”

    The tribesman said that without government committing financial support for infrastructure, jobs and community initiatives the fighting will continue.

    He also wants to see a drastic change in police numbers and a more permanent military presence on the ground.

    “We don’t have a proper government to protect us from enemies in order to protect ourselves, our houses . . . and to protect assets we have to buy guns in order to protect them.”

    Parliament urged to act
    Last week, the PNG Parliament discussed the issue of gun violence.

    East Sepik Governor Allan Bird, who is on the opposition benches, has called on the government “to respond”.

    He said the “terrorists in the upper Highlands” needed their guns to be stripped from them.

    “We are a government for goodness sake — let’s act like one,” Bird said.

    Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso agreed with Bird’s sentiments and acknowledged that the situation was serious.

    He called on the whole of Parliament to unite to fix the issue together.

    RNZ Pacific has contacted the PM Marape’s office for comment with no response yet.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Philippines arrests Chinese fugitive who became Vanuatu citizen

    By Evelyn Macairan in Manila

    Despite changing his citizenship to the Pacific state of Vanuatu, a Chinese man wanted for various economic crimes was arrested at Ninoy Aquino International Airport last week as he was about to board a flight for Singapore.

    In a statement yesterday, the Philippine Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said Liu Jiangtao, 42, had presented himself for departure clearance at the immigration counter when the officer processing him saw that his name was on the bureau’s list of aliens with outstanding watchlist orders.

    Records showed that Liu is one of 11 Chinese fugitives wanted for fraud, infringement of credit card management, capital embezzlement, money laundering and counterfeiting a registered trademark.

    Bureau of Immigration prosecutors have filed deportation cases against the 11 fugitives.

    Evelyn Macairan is a reporter of The Philippine Star.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Marape praises security forces in daring kidnap, says lawnessness has ‘destroyed’ PNG

    By Rebecca Kuku in Port Moresby

    Prime Minister James Marape has commended Papua New Guinea’s police, defence force and the local community for their quick action in the release of an Australian pilot and two local workers who were kidnapped in the Highlands yesterday.

    The pilot of Hevilift and two locals were at Hela’s Mt Sisa on routine work at a Digicel tower yesterday when they were kidnapped by an armed group in the area.

    The group demanded a ransom to be paid.

    However, due to quick action by the police, defence and locals in the area, the three were released safely a few hours after their kidnapping.

    Marape, also the Tari-Pori MP in Hela, said lawlessness had “destroyed” the country.

    “This country does not have any place for lawbreakers. You can hide and run now but you cannot hide forever,” he said.

    “The more you hide and run, you will put yourself and your family at risk just like others who are in prison or dead because of their crimes.”

    Special force ‘armed to teeth’
    Marape said PNG would not tolerate lawbreakers.

    “The special police force unit we are building will be armed to the teeth to deal with any crime anywhere, any place,” he said.

    “Just as we did in the first kidnapping and this second attempt, we will not tolerate such crimes in our country.”

    Police Commissioner David Manning said in a statement the Australian pilot of a Hevilift helicopter and two Papua New Guinean subcontractors were released without harm following “a rapid deployment of security force elements”.

    Manning said security forces were mobilised and deployed in the area in large numbers through yesterday afternoon, and through local leaders the abductors had been warned that lethal force would be employed in order to free the captives.

    He said the helicopter had since been flown to Hides with the pilot and sub-contractors on board.

    Manning said security forces had entered the “direct apprehension” phase of the operation in which the abductors were being tracked so they could face justice.

    “If these criminals resist or show any hostility towards police, other security personnel or any member of the public, their fates will be sealed,” he said.

    ‘Enough of domestic terrorists’
    “Our country has had enough of these domestic terrorists who are undermining the safety and security of our communities, and they have no place walking free.

    “These criminals will be caught or they will be killed in the process,” Manning said.

    The pilot and technicians had been taken captive at a remote site in the vicinity of Mt Sisa, Tari.

    It is understood the issue motivated the group was acting in connection with a compensation claim, and demands were being communicated by the group.

    “I congratulate security forces personnel who worked together with local leaders and axillary police to bring this situation to a successful and swift conclusion,” Manning added.

    Rebecca Kuku is a journalist with The National. Republished with permission from The National and PNG Post-Courier (front page screenshot).

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Kidnapped Australian helicopter pilot, subcontractors set free in PNG

    PNG Post-Courier

    A kidnapped Australian pilot of a Hevilift helicopter and two Papua New Guinean subcontractors have been released in without harm following a rapid deployment of security forces.

    Security forces were mobilised and deployed in the Mt Sisa, a remote area near the border of Hela and Southern Highlands, in large numbers this afternoon in response to the hostage-for-ransom ttack.

    The kidnappers were warned through local leaders that the security forces would use lethal force to free the captives.

    This latest daring attack for ransom took place a year on from the infamous kidnap and ransom demand at Mt Bosavi.

    Tribal warriors from Mt Sisa, just north of Mt Bosavi, took control of a Hevilift helicopter and its expatriate crew at 9am yesterday morning.

    The kidnappers demanded a substantial amount of money for the release of the Australian pilot and his crew.

    In a statement tonight, Police Commissioner David Manning said the helicopter had been flown to Hides in the Southern Highlands with the pilot and sub-contractors onboard.

    Security forces tracking kidnappers
    Security forces were now tracking the kidnappers so they would face justice.

    “If these criminals resist or show any hostility towards police, other security personnel or any member of the public, their fates will be sealed,” he said.

    The unidentified helicopter pilot and two contract workers
    The unidentified helicopter pilot and two contract workers taken captive . . . freed after their ordeal. Image: PNG Post-Courier

    “Our country has had enough of these domestic terrorists who are undermining the safety and security of our communities, and they have no place walking free.

    “These criminals will be caught, or they will be killed in the process.

    The pilot and technicians had been taken captive at a remote site in the vicinity of Mt Sisa, Tari.

    It was understood the issue motivating the group was over a compensation claim, and demands were being communicated by the group.

    Released safely
    The pilot with the two workers and the helicopter were released safely after the kidnappers heard that members of the PNG Defence Force and men from Mobile Squad 07,SMG HQ, and Mobile Squad 20 had been deployed in the Mt Sisa area.

    “We have learned a lot from previous situations of a similar nature in this area, and landowners, leaders and village auxiliary police from the local area worked together with police command to resolve the situation,” Commissioner Manning said.

    “I congratulate security forces personnel who worked together with local leaders and auxillary police to bring this situation to a successful and swift conclusion.

    “As information comes to hand on the hunt for the abductors this will be released for public distribution,” the commissioner’s statement added.

    Republished from the PNG Post-Courier with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.