TEMPO.CO, Abepura – The five political prisoners who recently received clemencies from President Jokowi have appealed to the president to release the other 60 political prisoners in the province.
“We thank President Jokowi, but we’d like to ask that all political prisoners, including those from Maluku Islands, be released” said Linus Hulika, one of the freed prisoners, in a release Tempo received on Monday, May 11, 2015.
Linus said the president came to Abepura Prison on May 9, 2015, accompanied by First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo, Justice and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly and Papua Deputy Governor Klemen Tinal.
In his visit, the president met with the five inmates: Apotnalogolik Lokobal, Numbungga Telenggen, Kimanus Wenda, Linus Hiluka, dan Jefrai Murib. In the 15-minute conversation, the president told the prisoners he had granted the clemencies for them.
Linus said the president told him the clemencies were granted on the initiatives of the president himself, and that the president preferred clemencies as opposed to amnesties, which would require prior consent from the House of Representatives.
“He apologized for what security personnel had done to us for the past 12 years,” he said.
MOYANG KASIH DEWIMERDEKA
