Chased out of Indonesia!

On Wednesday 13th of December we received news that a family acquaintance had their house forcefully invaded and searched by Indonesian security forces who claimed to be looking for us. We have not been contacted by anyone from the police requesting to talk to us even though we have nothing to hide. Instead the secret police is continuing to interrogate people about us as if we were criminals.

We have never been hiding. We have been biking for over one month through Bali and Java, doing awareness raising for Western Sahara very publicly. Western Sahara has been occupied by Morocco since 1975 and the indigenous population, the Sahrawis, are subjected to daily arbitrary arrests, torture, disappearances and discrimination. No journalists or human rights organizations are allowed in the country and Morocco stops at nothing to pressure anyone who dares to expose their colonization.

We believe that the Moroccan government is trying to pressure the Indonesian government to stop us from doing our campaign and exposing their occupation of Western Sahara. In just a few weeks we have managed to do over fifteen public events and more than thirty media interviews about Western Sahara in Indonesia and we know this scares the Moroccans who don’t want their human rights abuses out in the open.

On Wednesday we got our visa extension cancelled and were asked to leave the country under very stressful conditions. Not only did the emergency escape break our budget but it also broke Benjamin’s bike which will cost a lot to replace. That is why we have started a fundraiser to be able to finish our campaign.

Despite these threats we will continue until Western Sahara is free. At the beginning of February we will go to Italy, Switzerland, France, Andorra, Spain, Portugal and Algeria. We will organize at the parliaments, at the UN, at the universities and in the streets. But to make the final stage of our campaign possible we need your help to donate and share our fundraiser with everyone you know. Together we can show the Moroccans that they can’t hide their occupation any longer.