Free West Papua armed group tried to shoot down a civilian passenger aircraft

West Papua armed group terrorized a civilian passenger aircraft

West Papua Blog (WPB) – It is a shocking news that Free West Papua armed group was proudly shared a video showing their activities shooting at a small passenger airplane low flying above them.

The so called peaceful campaign by Free West Papua in several countries like in Australia, UK, United States and several more are just a camouflage of the real terror strategy by Free West Papua in Papua and West provinces of Indonesia.

Is it justifiable to kill innocent airline passengers to support Free West Papua separatism? Can “terror” against civilian airplane be acceptable as way of action of Free West Papua?

To decide how a democracy should respond to a terror attack by separatist movement, WPB concludes that Indonesian national and international law can provide definitive answer to call Free West Papua as a terrorist group, and, indeed, Free West Papua can also be seen as an immoral movement.

Threatening passenger aircraft is an evil activity and passenger aircraft should never be shot out of the sky. In addition to that, Free West Papua armed group is clearly shows their intention to to create fear among the population by recording and sharing the video in their facebook account.

At present, the system of international sectoral accords designed to combat all forms of aviation terrorism is based on the:

• Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft, signed in Tokyo on 14 September 1963 (Journal of Laws of 1971, No. 15, Item 147; the Convention entered into force on 4 December 1969);
• Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, signed in The Hague on 16 December 1970 (Journal of Laws of 1972, No. 25, Item 181; the Convention entered into force on 14 October 1971);
• Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation, signed in Montreal on 23 September 1971 (Journal of Laws of 1976, No. 8, Item 37; the Convention entered into force on 26 January 1973);
• Protocol for the suppression of unlawful acts of violence at airports serving international civil aviation, supplementary to the Convention for the suppression of unlawful acts against the safety of civil aviation, signed in Montreal on 23 September 1971, resolved in Montreal on 24 February 1988 (Journal of Laws of 2006, No. 48, Item 348; the Protocol entered into force on 6 August 1989, http://isap.sejm.gov.pl).

Based on the international conventions and protocols above, the activity of the Free West Papua armed group can be categorized as aviation terrorism. West Papua armed group terrorized a civilian passenger aircraft in Oksibil is not the first time, Free West Papua used violent means to attack both military and civilian airplanes in order to achieve their goal to create fear and intigate conflict in the region.