(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ has learned that Indonesian military authorities flew American journalist Allan Nairn out of East Timor on a military jet on 15 September 1999, having detained him for more than twenty-four hours in the capital city of Dili. He was taken to Kupang, West Timor. **Updates IFEX alert of 14 September 1999** Nairn […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ has learned that Indonesian military authorities flew
American journalist Allan Nairn out of East Timor on a military jet on 15
September 1999, having detained him for more than twenty-four hours in the
capital city of Dili. He was taken to Kupang, West Timor.
**Updates IFEX alert of 14 September 1999**
Nairn is a freelance journalist who filed regular reports from East Timor
for the American news organisations “The Nation”, a weekly political
magazine, and Pacifica Radio’s current affairs program “Democracy Now!” He
was detained by Indonesian military officers at around 5:30 a.m. (local
time) on 14 September. Nairn says he has been interrogated by police and by
military officers, including Maj. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri, head of the
Indonesian military operation in East Timor.
At around 2 p.m. (local time) on 15 September, Nairn used a cellular phone
to contact Amy Goodman, the host of “Democracy Now!” He told Goodman he was
being flown to Kupang. Upon landing, Nairn notified officials at the United
States embassy in Jakarta that he had arrived safely.
A USA State Department official told CPJ that Nairn is in the custody of the
head of immigration in Kupang, and that the Indonesian government was
preparing to deport him within the next 24 to 36 hours. The official assured
CPJ that Nairn had not been physically harmed, and that “all indications are
that [the Indonesians] just want him out of the country.”
Background Information
At around 5:30 a.m. (local time) on the morning of 14 September, Nairn was
stopped by Indonesian military officers at a checkpoint in Dili, which has
been almost entirely devastated by pro-Jakarta militias backed by the
Indonesian military. Journalists have been targeted by the militias in what
many see as an army-orchestrated campaign to prevent news of atrocities from
reaching the outside world. As a result, Nairn is one of the few journalists
left in East Timor. His eyewitness accounts have recently been broadcast on
CNN and National Public Radio.
In November 1991, Nairn suffered a fractured skull when he was beaten by
Indonesian soldiers while covering the army’s massacre of scores of East
Timorese demonstrators at the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili. In November 1994,
authorities prevented Nairn, who was on assignment for the American monthly
magazine “Vanity Fair”, from going to East Timor. He was detained in West
Timor and later flown to Jakarta. And in March 1998, Nairn was expelled from
Indonesia after holding a press conference in which he criticised American
support and training of the Indonesian military.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
immediate release from custody, and to ensure that he may report without
fear for his personal safety
announcement that a multinational peacekeeping force would be welcome in
East Timor, but worrying that the interim period between now and the arrival
of international troops may be the most
dangerous of all
a
United Nations-brokered agreement in which it pledged to ensure a “secure
environment” in East Timor, one “devoid of violence or other forms of
intimidation.”
protect journalists from harm, and to cease all harassment or intimidation
of the media in East Timor
Appeals To
His Excellency Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie
President, Republic of Indonesia
Office of the President
Bina Graha, Jalan Veteran No. 17
Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia
Fax: +62 21 778 182
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
