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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