Police confirmed that one person had been shot dead in the illegal hoisting of Melanesia's 14-star flag in Wamena, Jayawijaya district, Papua. Papua Police chief, Inspector General Budi Utomo, said that five people, believed to be members of the Free Papua Organization (OPM), hoisted the flag in front of Jayawijaya's district legislative assembly at 1:30 a.m. on Monday.
Utomo said the district police had asked the group to lower the flag. However, it ignored the request and even attacked the policemen with traditional arms. This turn of events led the policemen to issue warning shots, which only provoked the group in their violent acts, thus forcing the policemen to defend themselves by aiming their shots at their attackers.
Jayawijaya Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Agung Makbul told Antara that the four suspects who survived would be charged with treason. Two of the four, identified as Gustaf Ayomi and John Hilipok, are being detained by the police for further interrogation, while the other two - Welmus Asso and Elias Asso -- are being treated at the hospital for gunshot wounds to their legs. The fatality was identified as Iyut Heselo.
At the trial of alleged bombing mastermind Imam Samudra, computer experts said they had found a statement claiming responsibility for the Bali bombings, photos of bodies from the bombings which killed 202 people, pictures of another suspect called Amrozi and pornographic photos of Western women on his computer The website statement, as quoted by police, expresses hatred for Jews and other unbelievers. It says Bali - a "place of sin" - was attacked in revenge for the US-led attack in Afghanistan in 2001.
Also found on Imam's laptop were pictures of a suspected terror group leader Abu Bakar Ba'asyir and photos of national police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar and top ministers.
Police say the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group, which has been linked to al-Qaeda, staged the bombing of mainly Western tourists in two crowded nightclubs last October 12th in revenge for injustices to Muslims worldwide. The prosecutors say that Imam Samudra, 33, was field commander and picked the targets. Ba'asyir is on trial separately as JI's alleged leader. Imam, described as a computer expert, admitted the laptop is his but said investigators planted some items on it to frame him. Australian federal police expert Nicholas Klein said he "cloned" its hard disk on December 18 and 19th in a process that recovers even deleted files. "Pages from an Internet site called Istimata, which included the statement, were found along with photos of bomb victims and information on sharing stolen credit cards," he said.
An Indonesian police computer expert, Lt. Col. Brata Mandala, said the laptop was confiscated on November 21, the day Imam was arrested. It was not switched on between then and the cloning. He said deleted material included pictures of naked western women, a photo of Bachtiar and a photo of the top security and welfare ministers.
