PFF Joins Call For Action Over Plane Attack In Papua

www.pacificmediafreedom.org

PFF, Rarotonga, COOK ISLANDS -- Pacific media watchdogs are keen to see closure and prosecution from Indonesia's Police forces investigating the plane attack in Indonesia's Papua province on Sunday 8 April, which killed 35 year old journalist Leiron Kegoya.

Kegoya, a journalist for the Papua Pos and Pasifik Pos Dail was on assignment to cover local elections in the Papua provincial capital Jayapura, which borders Papua New Guinea. He was a passenger in a small twin otter plane touching down at Mulia Airport when the shooters opened fire on the plane. He died from a bullet wound to his neck

The pilot, co-pilot and a mother and her 4-year-old son were injured in the attack, which saw the aircraft veer off the runway and crash into the terminal building.

"The circumstances of this attack highlight the situation in which journalists must do their work, and we join our colleagues in Indonesia and the International Federation of Journalists, IFJ in urging police to ensure the perpetrators behind this horrible act are brought to justice," says PFF chair Titi Gabi, of Papua New Guinea.

"The safety and security of civilians including journalists rests on the ability of Police and law enforcers, and is especially critical during election periods and when reporting from dangerous or unstable locations."

"We express condolences to the colleagues and family of Leiron Kegoya, and ask that Papua's police and Indonesia's leadership ensure this investigation not taper into silence, but that those responsible can be identified and brought to justice," says PFF co chair Monica Miller of American Samoa. The Pacific Freedom Forum adds its solidarity to condemnation of the attack from other media networks including the national Indonesia media association, AJI, the International Federation of Journalists, IFJ, and Reporters without Borders, RSF.

LINKS:

Jakarta Post: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/04/08/armed-gang-attacks-trigana-air-plane-papua.html

Radio NZ International: http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=67390

Pacific Media Watch: http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/pacific-media-watch/west-papua-rsf-protests-over-killing-journalist-airport-attack-7897

Pacific Scoop: http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2012/04/indonesian-president-demands-quick-justice-in-west-papua-attack/

IFJ: http://asiapacific.ifj.org/en/articles/journalist-killed-in-indonesias-papua-province

The Pacific Freedom Forum are a regional and global online network of Pacific media colleagues, with the specific intent of raising awareness and advocacy of the right of Pacific people to enjoy freedom of expression and be served by a free and independent media. We believe in the critical and basic link between these freedoms, and the vision of democratic and participatory governance pledged by our leaders in their endorsement of the Pacific Plan and other commitments to good governance. In support of the above, our key focus is monitoring threats to media freedom and bringing issues of concern to the attention of the wider regional and international community.

ENDS

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