September 15, 1999 -- CPJ has learned that Indonesian military authorities
flew American journalist Allan Nairn out of East Timor on a military jet today,
having detained him for more than 24 hours in the capital city of Dili. He was
taken to Kupang, West Timor.
Nairn is a freelance journalist who filed regular reports from East Timor for the
American news organizations The Nation, a weekly political magazine,
and Pacifica Radioís current affairs program "Democracy Now!" He was detained by
Indonesian military officers at around 5:30 a.m. local time on September 14.
Nairn says he has been interrogated by police and by military officers, including
Maj. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri, head of the Indonesian military operation in East
Timor.
At around 2 p.m. local time on September 15, Nairn used a cellular phone to
contact Amy Goodman, the host of "Democracy Now!" He told Goodman he was being
flown to Kupang. Upon landing, Nairn notified officials at the United States
embassy in Jakarta that he had arrived safely.
A U.S. State Department official told CPJ that Nairn is in the custody of the
head of immigration in Kupang, and that the Indonesian government plans to deport him within the next 24 to 36 hours. The official assured CPJ that Nairn
had not been physically harmed, and that ìall indications are that [the
Indonesians] just want him out of the country.
Click here to read CPJ's September 14 protest letter about Allan Nairn
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