Teacher tortured & jailed for waving a flag. Help him.
Johan Teterissa dedicated his life to teaching primary school kids. He has a passion for human rights, but right now he's serving a 15-year jail sentence for simply raising a flag banned by the Indonesian Government.
In 2007 Johan led a group of people in a peaceful protest, waving a banned "rainbow" flag at an event in front of the Indonesian President.
Police arrested the group immediately and took them to police stations where they were interrogated and tortured. They were whipped with cables, beaten with rifle butts and forced to crawl on hot asphalt.
Following grossly unfair trials, the men were convicted of 'rebellion', and Johan was sentenced to 15-years behind bars.
Johan will continue to languish in prison unless we do something about it. Join our call on the Indonesian authorities to free Johan now.
Your excellency,
I call on you to immediately and unconditionally release prisoner of conscience Johan Teterissa and all of his co-protestors imprisoned solely for their peaceful political expression.
Johan, a teacher from Maluku, has spent nearly 10 years in prison for the simple act of waving a flag at the end of a dance protest in front of the former President. The men were taken by the police, whipped, beaten and imprisoned following an unfair trial.
Pending their release they should be immediately transferred to a prison closer to their families, who are thousands of kilometers away.
[Your comments here]
Sincerely,
[Your name]
