WELLINGTON (Radio New Zealand International / Pacific Media Watch): A former prime minister, several high profile members of Parliament and religious leaders have nominated West Papuan leader in exile, Benny Wenda, for the Nobel Peace Prize.
RNZI reports that this is the second year in a row that Wenda has been nominated for the prize.
His nominees include Vanuatu's former Prime Minister Moana Carcasses Kalosil, Vanuatu MP Ralph Regenvanu, MP Catherine Delahunty of New Zealand's Green Party and the Bishop of Oxford in the United Kingdom, Reverend John Pritchard.
Wenda is currently living in exile in the United Kingdom. He is the founder of the Free West Papua Campaign (UK) and founder of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua.
He visited New Zealand last year to lobby support for freedom for West Papua but told journalist Henry Yamo that he was stunned to find New Zealand “ignoring human rights issues on its doorstep” after Speaker David Carter denied him the opportunity to speak about his cause at Parliament.
“The Australian Parliament gave support last November and I was looking forward to the same in New Zealand, but my entry to Parliament has been blocked,” Wenda said last year.
Wenda was forced to leave West Papua in 2002 after being arrested without charge, tortured by police and held in solitary confinement for several months. Sometime later he was charged with inciting an attack on a police station and burning two shops - crimes he never committed.
During the trial, the prosecutor and judge requested bribes from Benny’s defence team, but were refused. Fearing death in prison after being attacked several times, Wenda escaped and was smuggled across the border to Papua New Guinea, before being assisted by a European NGO to travel to the UK where he was granted political asylum.
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Pacific Media Watch
