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Subject: Two charged in Indonesia for raising Papua flag: police Two charged in Indonesia for raising Papua flag: police JAKARTA, Sept 25 (AFP) -- Two Papuans are facing life in prison for plotting against the Indonesian state after they raised an outlawed separatist flag earlier this week, police said Thursday. The men were among 18 people arrested early Tuesday after a "Free Papua" flag was unfurled in Kwamki Baru village in Papua province's Mimika district. "The two who have been named as suspects were those who hoisted the flag," provincial police chief Bagus Eko Danto told AFP. The other 16 detainees are in custody pending further investigations, he said. Police seized weapons, including dozens of bows and arrows and 10 air rifles, from homes in the village. Anyone convicted of displaying separatist symbols faces life in prison in Indonesia, a vast archipelago which plagued by secessionist rebellions. Indonesia won sovereignty over Papua, a former Dutch colony in the western half of New Guinea island, in 1969 after a vote among a select group of Papuans widely seen as a sham. Many Papuans complain that Jakarta is only interested in exploiting the province's abundant natural resources and accuse Indonesia's military of abusing communities living near foreign mining interests. Rights groups such as Amnesty International have urged Indonesia to release two other Papuans, Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage, who were sentenced to 10 and 15 years respectively in 2005 for raising the separatist Morning Star flag. Forty members of US Congress wrote a letter to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in August demanding their immediate release.
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