Papua rebels release videos showing kidnapped NZ pilot alive

Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s Papua province released more photos and videos Friday appearing to show the New Zealand pilot they took hostage last month alive.
In a video distributed Friday by rebel spokesperson Sebby Sambom, a man wearing a blue jacket is identified as Philip Mark Mehrtens of Christchurch, a pilot for Indonesian aviation company Susi Air who was abducted by independence fighters from the West Papua Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement. He sat at a wooden block on the ground surrounded by separatists holding various weapons, with the morning star flag that is a separatist symbol.
Mehrtens was instructed to read a statement from a piece of paper he held. He said foreign pilots weren’t allowed to work or fly in Papua until it is independent, and that the Free Papua Movement requested the United Nations mediate independence negotiations.