Urgent Appeal: Reverse the Death Sentence of Indigenous West Papuan Political Prisoner Karel Fatem
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The undersigned organizations issue this appeal in solidarity with Karel Fatem, an Indigenous West Papuan man from Maybrat currently held on death row at Class IIB Prison, Sorong (Lapas Kelas IIB Sorong), West Papua. We join West Papuan civil society in calling for the immediate review and reversal of his death sentence.
We raise this appeal not only on behalf of Karel Fatem as an individual, but because his case illustrates a wider and urgent concern: the risk that political and territorial conflicts are resolved through capital punishment rather than dialogue, and that the label of “criminal” or “terrorist” can be applied to individuals whose actions are rooted in land, Indigenous rights, and self-determination disputes that remain legally and politically unresolved.
Karel Fatem's death sentence is not an isolated legal outcome. It reflects a system in which unresolved land, Indigenous rights, and self-determination disputes are being channeled into the criminal justice system's most severe and irreversible penalty.
Who Is Karel Fatem?
Karel Fatem is an Indigenous West Papuan from the Maybrat area of Southwest Papua Province. Within his community, he is regarded as someone who took up a defense of ancestral land against investment, resource extraction, and militarization that many West Papuans view as existential threats to their territory and way of life.
Circumstances of Arrest, Case Development, and Current Status
Karel Fatem was arrested on 14 May 2023, along with associates Apolos Aikingking ("Apo") and Alowisius Frabuku ("Alo"), in connection with an attack on the Kisor military post (Pos Koramil Kisor), South Aifat District, Maybrat Regency, on 2 September 2021, in which four Indonesian soldiers were killed.
The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB-OPM) claimed responsibility for that attack. Karel was also linked to a separate shooting incident involving a member of the Indonesian military (TNI) in Fankahrio village on 20 January 2022. Dozens of West Papuans were eventually named suspects in these related cases, tried separately at the Sorong District Court (Pengadilan Negeri Sorong Kelas 1B) between 2022 and 2024, including the widely documented "Sorong Six" case.
Karel faced two separate case files, both charging premeditated murder under Article 340 of the Indonesian Criminal Code jo. Article 55(1) (joint criminal participation):
Case No. 207 (Kisor attack): the district court sentenced him to 20 years' imprisonment, upheld on appeal.
Case No. 257 (Fankahrio case): prosecutors sought the death penalty; the trial panel initially imposed life imprisonment.
According to Karel’s lawyers, the prosecutors appealed both outcomes as too lenient and pursued cassation before the Supreme Court. It was at that final cassation stage, not at first instance, and not at the intermediate appellate stage, that the death penalty was imposed, overturning the more measured sentences reached by two lower courts. Karel Fatem is now the first West Papuan political prisoner in decades to receive a death sentence, a marked departure from the historical pattern in which West Papuan political prisoners, even when convicted, have received prison terms rather than capital punishment.
Karel remains imprisoned at Class IIB Prison, Sorong. His legal team and West Papuan human rights defenders continue to explore avenues to challenge the sentence by requesting an immediate review of the court decision.
A Precedent That Endangers Far More Than One Case
We are gravely concerned that Karel Fatem's death sentence, the first capital punishment handed to a political prisoner in decades, establishes a dangerous legal and political precedent whose consequences reach well beyond West Papua.
For Indonesia's legal and human rights standing. As lawyers involved in related cases have warned, this verdict sits uneasily with Indonesia's ratification of international human rights instruments, including conventions against torture, and with the global trend toward abolition or restriction of capital punishment. A state that applies the death penalty to a politically rooted land and resistance case, after two lower courts had already found lesser sentences appropriate, invites international scrutiny of its judicial independence and its compliance with fair trial and proportionality standards under the ICCPR.
For due process and judicial predictability more broadly. The fact that a life sentence was raised to death only at the final and least reviewable stage of appeal sets a troubling procedural precedent: that prosecutorial dissatisfaction with a court's judgment can escalate punishment to its most severe and irreversible form, with limited further recourse. This is a concern for anyone facing serious charges in Indonesia's courts, not only West Papuans, because it signals that sentence severity may be shaped more by prosecutorial persistence through successive appeals than by the trial court's considered findings of fact.
For how conflict, dissent, and land defense are framed as crimes. Beyond Karel's individual case, this precedent risks legitimizing a broader pattern: the use of serious criminal charges, anti-terrorism laws, and counterinsurgency-style prosecution against Indigenous land defenders, human rights defenders, journalists, and government critics — any of whom could be labeled "terrorists" or accused of "anti-government" activity rather than recognized as raising legitimate grievances through legitimate, if sometimes desperate, means. This concern is not unique to Papua; it is a warning relevant to any jurisdiction where political, land, or resource conflicts are resolved through the criminal justice system rather than negotiation, and where the harshest available penalty is used to make an example of a defendant rather than to serve justice proportionate to individual conduct.
Because the death penalty is irreversible, whatever view one takes of the underlying conflict, an irreversible punishment leaves no room to correct judicial, procedural, or political error. Given the acknowledged frailties already documented in related Maybrat/Kisor prosecutions — including allegations of coerced confessions, torture, minors tried as adults, and defendants transferred far from home with reduced access to counsel — the irreversibility of this sentence is especially alarming.
The Root Causes This Case Reflects
Karel Fatem's prosecution cannot be understood in isolation from the conditions that produced it. Multiple West Papuan civil society organizations and human rights monitors have documented:
The long-unresolved question of West Papuans' right to self-determination, a legal and political question dating to the disputed 1969 "Act of Free Choice" and the New York Agreement, which remains a live and legitimate subject of international concern rather than a settled matter.
Escalating agrarian conflict and land dispossession, driven by National Strategic Projects (PSN), oil palm and agribusiness expansion, and reported disputes affecting Indigenous communities in the Sorong region over customary land.
Development policy that West Papuan communities and youth organizations say displaces local food systems, identity, and ancestral knowledge, including large-scale agricultural and food-security programs implemented without full community consent.
Heavy militarization of West Papuan communities, with security forces mobilized around state and commercial projects, which numerous reports describe as creating a profound power imbalance between the state and Indigenous communities.
Documented incidents of violence against civilians, forced displacement, and the criminalization of those resisting land seizure, recurring across Maybrat and the wider West Papuan region.
These are not marginal factors. They are the documented backdrop against which Karel Fatem's case, and many others like it, must be evaluated and considered for political and developmental solutions.
Our Appeal
We call on the Government of Indonesia, the Supreme Court of Indonesia, and the international community to:
Immediately review and reverse the death sentence imposed on Karel Fatem, through all available legal avenues, including judicial review (peninjauan kembali) and executive clemency.
Halt any execution and recognise Karel Fatem's political and territorial dimension, safety, due process, and continued access to independent legal counsel while his case remains under review.
Ensure that the armed conflict in West Papua is recognized and addressed in a manner consistent with its status as a non-international armed conflict under international humanitarian law, with priority given to inclusive political dialogue, peaceful conflict resolution, and compliance with international human rights and humanitarian obligations.
Exercise restraint in the use of anti-terrorism and counterinsurgency legal frameworks against Indigenous West Papuans, land defenders, and political activists, and avoid conflating legitimate political dissent and self-determination advocacy with terrorism.
Address the root causes of the conflict, including unresolved Indigenous land rights, agrarian conflict, development projects undertaken without free, prior, and informed consent, and the militarization of West Papuan communities — and pursue demilitarization and genuine dialogue with West Papuan representative bodies.
Uphold the West Papuan peoples’ human rights consistent with the UN standards and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and applicable international law.
Uphold international standards, including access for UN human rights mechanisms, international observers, and independent monitors, to review Karel Fatem's case and the broader conditions faced by West Papuan political prisoners.
Initial signatory
Merdeka West Papua Support Network
TAPOL
SOWP - Cooperating Organizations for West Papua Foundation
Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL)
Front Nasional Mahasiswa Pemuda Papua
GempaR-Papua
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