Bern - A Swiss national arrested in the troubled Indonesian province of Papua (Irian Jaya) and accused of working illegally as a journalist is an "extremely experienced journalist" with the Zurich-based Neue Zurcher Zeitung, the newspaper confirmed yesterday. The German-language newspaper said Oswald Iten (50) had worked for the publication for almost 30 years.
Meanwhile, nine Papuan civilians have been reported shot dead by Indonesian troops during last week's attempted raising of the Morning Star independence flag. Jailed leaders of the independence movement yesterday lashed out at police for reneging on an agreement to allow the flag to fly in the southern border town of Merauke, where most of the killings took place.
Indonesian naval authorities have deployed 37 warships in the waters around the province as part of a crackdown on separatism, a report said yesterday.
