Indonesian court finds Papua internet blackout illegal

Jakarta: An Indonesian court has ruled the government violated the law by cutting the internet in West Papua last year during widspread protests.

Protests were held across Papua region and other parts of Indonesia following racist harassment of West Papuan university students in Java last August. A panel of judges at the Jakarta State Administrative Court has granted a lawsuit filed by civil society groups against the government’s decision to impose an internet blackout. The court found the government had imposed the internet blackout without the prior declaration of a state of emergency as required by law.