Indonesian police said Monday they would investigate fresh reports of torture by security forces against civilians in restive Papua province, after a graphic video was posted online.

The video, released on YouTube last week and reported Monday in The Sydney Morning Herald, showed two Papuan men being tortured during questioning by unknown interrogators about the whereabouts of a weapons cache.

Human rights groups accuse the Indonesian security forces of widespread abuse and torture against civilians in the remote eastern region, where a low-level separatist insurgency has been simmering for decades.

"We will investigate and find out what's going on. We'll also find out who recorded the video and spread it. If police are involved, we will take firm action," national police spokesman Marwoto Soeto told AFP.

Papua police spokesman Wachyono said the video could be an attempt to discredit the police force, which is known to torture and abuse detainees of all kinds, including women and those held on minor charges.

"I'm afraid this video could have been made up to discredit police or the military. The people making the video could be an armed gang," he said.

"If it's proven that the police have committed human rights violations, we will take firm action," he added.
 

The Australian media raised similar allegations last month against Indonesian police in the eastern province of Maluku, where rights groups say separatists and their supporters are regularly abused in custody.

One of the units allegedly responsible for much of the worst abuse is Kopassus, the Indonesian special forces.

US-based Human Rights Watch says Indonesian forces have pursued indiscriminate sweeps on villages in Papua and West Papua provinces, sometimes killing civilians, and imprisoned peaceful political activists.

The United States recently re-opened military links with Kopassus despite objections from rights groups and several members of Congress.

US Rear Admiral Sean A. Pybus, special operations commander for the Pacific, met Indonesian Army Chief of Staff General George Toisutta and Special Forces Commander Major General Lodewijk F. Paulus in Indonesia last week.

(Source: AFP)