{"id":1022323,"date":"2023-03-10T08:11:33","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T08:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=86013"},"modified":"2023-03-10T08:11:33","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T08:11:33","slug":"hostage-nz-pilot-appears-in-new-papuan-rebel-video-amid-dont-work-here-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/03\/10\/hostage-nz-pilot-appears-in-new-papuan-rebel-video-amid-dont-work-here-warning\/","title":{"rendered":"Hostage NZ pilot appears in new Papuan rebel video amid \u2018don\u2019t work here\u2019 warning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/category\/pacific-media-watch\/\"><em>Asia Pacific Report<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) has released a new video about <a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?s=NZ+hostage+pilot\">New Zealand hostage pilot Philip Mehrtens<\/a> and a Papuan news organisation, Jubi TV, has featured it on its website.<\/p>\n<p>The Susi Air pilot was taken hostage on February 7 after landing in a remote region near Nduga in the Central Papuan highlands.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/9MZKsejj5wM\">the video<\/a>, which was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/international\/pacific-news\/485690\/captured-nz-pilot-in-papua-in-another-video-appearance\">sent to RNZ Pacific<\/a>, Mehrtens was instructed to read a statement saying &#8220;no foreign pilots are to work and fly&#8221; into the Papuan highlands until the West Papua is independent.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/jubi.id\/polhukam\/2023\/sebulan-disandera-tpnpb-rilis-video-dan-foto-kondisi-terbaru-pilot-susi-air\/\"><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> Sebulan disandera, TPNPB rilis video dan foto kondisi terbaru pilot Susi Air<\/a> <em>(After a month of being held hostage, TPNPB releases videos and photos of the latest condition of the Susi Air pilot)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?s=NZ+hostage+pilot\">Other NZ hostage pilot reports<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?s=West+Papua\">Other West Papua reports<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>He made another demand for West Papua independence from Indonesia later in the statement.<\/p>\n<p>Mehrtens was surrounded by more than a dozen people, some of them armed with weapons.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/international\/pacific-news\/485690\/captured-nz-pilot-in-papua-in-another-video-appearance\">RNZ Pacific has chosen not to publish<\/a> the video. Other New Zealand news services, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/nz\/kiwi-pilot-held-hostage-in-papua-new-guinea-phillip-mehrtens-heartfelt-message-to-family\/ZCSM2I76S5CKHLHGNCDU2CQ77Y\/\"><em>The New Zealand Herald<\/em><\/a>, have also chosen not to publish the video.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jubi TV item on YouTube<\/strong><br \/>\nHowever, Jubi TV produced an edited news item and <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/vIcOJ7cgqvs\">published it on YouTube<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/jubi.id\/polhukam\/2023\/sebulan-disandera-tpnpb-rilis-video-dan-foto-kondisi-terbaru-pilot-susi-air\/\">its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, a West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) spokesperson said they were waiting for a response from the New Zealand government to negotiate the release of Mehrtens.<\/p>\n<p>A Papua independence movement leader, Benny Wenda, and church and community leaders last month called for the rebels to release Mehrtens.<\/p>\n<p>Wenda said he sympathised with the New Zealand people and Merhtens&#8217; family but insisted the situation was a result of Indonesia&#8217;s refusal to allow the UN Human Rights Commissioner to visit Papua.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vIcOJ7cgqvs\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<em>The latest video featuring NZ hostage pilot Philip Mehrtens. Video: Jubi TV<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.jubi.id\/negotiations-with-tpnpb-to-free-susi-air-pilot-not-yet-succeeded\/\">According to <em>Jubi News<\/em><\/a>, the head of Cartenz Peace Operation 2023, Senior Commander Faizal Ramadani, says negotiations to free Mehrtens, who is held hostage by a TPNPB faction led by Egianus Kogoya, has &#8220;not been fruitful&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_86042\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-86042\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-86042 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Faizal-Ramadani-JTV-680wide-300x211.png\" alt=\"Senior Commander Faizal Ramadani\" width=\"300\" height=\"211\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Faizal-Ramadani-JTV-680wide-300x211.png 300w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Faizal-Ramadani-JTV-680wide-100x70.png 100w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Faizal-Ramadani-JTV-680wide-596x420.png 596w, https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Faizal-Ramadani-JTV-680wide.png 680w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-86042\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Senior Commander Faizal Ramadani . . . &#8220;The situation in the field is very dynamic.&#8221; Image: Alexander Loen\/Jubi News<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But Commander Ramadani said that the security forces would continue the negotiation process.<\/p>\n<p>According to Commander Ramadani, efforts to negotiate the release of Mehrtens by the local government, religious leaders, and Nduga community leaders were rejected by the TPNPB.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe haven\u2019t received the news directly, but we received information that there was a rejection,\u201d said Commander Ramadani in Jayapura on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whereabouts of Egianus\u2019 group and Mehrtens are not yet known as the situation in the field is very dynamic,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But we will keep looking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Republished with permission from RNZ Pacific and Jubi TV.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Asia Pacific Report The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) has released a new video about New Zealand hostage pilot Philip Mehrtens and a Papuan news organisation, Jubi TV, has featured it on its website. The Susi Air pilot was taken hostage on February 7 after landing in a remote region near Nduga in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":400,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[789,1719,355,428,5,365,53887,37684,6,7,207,58427,10,345,57162,358,12,431,57598,13,14,368,417,15,1743,9592,9451,24280,1,162,20201,19,9452],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022323"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/400"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1022323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1022407,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022323\/revisions\/1022407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1022323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1022323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1022323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}