Indonesia ignores pleas to release Papuan activists
Updated
Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will not respond to a letter from 40 members of US Congress demanding the immediate release of two Papuan activists.
The president's spokesman says the appeal for the release of the two men jailed for raising a separatist Papuan flag is small stuff and will be handled by the embassy in Washington.
Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage were sentenced to 10 and 15 years respectively in 2005 for raising the separatist Morning Star flag at a protest in the Papuan capital of Jayapura in late 2004.
Amnesty International has declared them prisoners of conscience.
In the letter addressed to President Yudhoyono, the Am,erican politicians called the activists' imprisonment unjust and that it came amid a crackdown on Papuan human rights activists.
The presidency says the letter is based on false information from anti-government groups and doesn't reflect the position of the US government, which recognises Indonesian sovereignty over Papua.
