New Video Emerges of NZ Pilot Captured by West Papuan Rebels

Published on February 16, 2024

A new video has emerged of a former New Zealand Jetstar pilot who has been held captive for a year by a group of armed rebels in West Papua. The capture is being used as a negotiating tool for an independence movement, with rebels conveying a message that the man, Phillip Mehrtens, is safe and will, at some stage, be freed, following an earlier video from mid-2023 that suggested he had been given two months to live by his captors. Mr. Mehrtens, who also worked for West Java-based airline Susi Air, was taken hostage by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB)—the armed wing of the wider Free Papua Movement—on Feb. 7, 2023....

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