Australia secretly deports Papuan separatists

Source: Reuters

Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:16am BST

By Rob Taylor

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia secretly deported five separatist asylum seekers from Indonesia's Papua province, in what rights groups said on Thursday was an attempt to appease Jakarta and avoid embarrassing its powerful military.

The men were sent to neighbouring Papua New Guinea from where they had set off in a banana boat and were intercepted near Saibai Island, to Australia's north, on August 21.

"This is an issue which raises humanitarian responsibilities that should be dealt with openly and fairly, not with secrecy and unjust laws," minority Australian Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett said after the government admitted the incident.

The five men, who had sought asylum as refugees, were taken to a PNG refugee camp on September 18 after the Port Moresby government agreed to re-admit them under a 2003 asylum agreement between Australia and PNG ...

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKSYD21318020070927