A preliminary check of the latest Jeffrey Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice identifies several notable appearances of Pacific Island countries.

Where Pacific Islands people or places are mentioned in the deceased convicted pedophile’s emails, they often appear in routine daily news summaries, immigration or visa advice and briefings about offshore financial services in jurisdictions including some of the Pacific’s renowned tax havens.

But amid the bland items there are communications in the files which speak more sharply to Epstein’s way of life, his influential connections and the global nature of his trafficking network.

• READ MORE: Maher Nazzal: The Epstein Files – the real scandal is the silence
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Tahiti is mentioned in various email exchanges involving Epstein, including with people who were actively on the look out for young females.

It features in correspondence with Jean-Luc Brunel, the late French model scout who killed himself in a French prison while awaiting trial for charges including the rape of minors.

“Who is the girl that antoine verglas shot about a month ago [sic],” Brunel asks Epstein on 14 August 2013, “Is it the girl from tahiti”?

In June that same year, the president of the New York Giants, Steve Tisch, asked Epstein about another female from Tahiti who the late pedophile wanted him to meet, enquiring whether she was a “working girl”.

Tisch has not been charged with any wrongdoing connected with Epstein.

Epstein appears to have visited French Polynesia numerous times between 2005 and 2017, sometimes staying in Bora Bora, according to bank statements released by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The files also show emails with Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, while she was in Tahiti, in 2009. Maxwell was later found guilty of grooming and trafficking girls as young as 14 years old for him and given a 20-year prison sentence in the US.

‘Fiji Water and candy’
For a time, Epstein was evidently obsessed with Fiji Water, the popular natural artesian water product sourced from Yaqara in Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu.

Bottles of Fiji Water were a common sight in Epstein’s dwellings, as one girl who was employed at an Epstein residence observed in a note book-type entry used as testimony for investigators and now shared on DOJ’s website:

“Kitchen — stacks of fiji water bottles. Woman had bikini bottoms on & had towel walk through. This is how rich people live, beautiful naked people around.”

Other files show people who managed Epstein’s household and travel were often ordering new boxes of Fiji Water — at home or on the go, Fiji Water had to be in supply.

“Principal prefers Fiji water and candy on his vehicles while being transported. Principal prefers finger food snacks with Fiji water in his jets while being transported,” advised one assistant.

Holidays in the sun
Epstein often invited people to visit, and his correspondence in the files is full of instances of him reaching out to fellow global travellers, often to find them already holidaying, in the Pacific:

“Im in santa fe, come visit,” said Epstein to someone named Reid Hoffmann who appears to be Reid Hoffmann, the founder of Linkedln, on 14 August, 2013.

“I am in Papua New Guinea mostly off grid,” Hoffman replied.

There’s a similar exchange with former Microsoft executive, Nathan Myhrvold, who replied on 28 November 2016 that he was in Rarotonga.

There is no suggestion that Hoffmann or Myhrvold are involved in any wrongdoing connected with Epstein.

Crypto and MBS
Epstein was interested in a plan announced by the Marshall Islands government in early 2018 to release its own cryptocurrency to serve as an official legal tender in the Micronesian country.

On March 1 that year he sent information about the Marshalls’ crypto plan in an email to Steve Bannon, the former chief strategist for Donald Trump during his first term as US President.

What is perhaps more interesting is the exchange in the prior emails in the thread.

“MBS coming to wash 19th,” Epstein said to Bannon in reference to the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s upcoming visit to Washington DC.

Bannon was across it and replied “To have breakfast with Jared”, in apparent reference to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Then talk turned to crypto in the Marshalls.

Shipping hassles
On his behalf, Epstein’s assistants purchased some cultural artwork from Papua New Guinea.

An invoice issued in July 2012 from Wewak-based company Pacific Artefacts, and addressed to New Zealander Brice Gordon, who worked for Epstein, listed the artwork as “Kwoma Tribe Painted Bark Panels”, priced at US$6000.

But getting an export permit for the panels from the PNG National Museum proved a lengthy process, as did arranging for the shipping through PNG’s national carrier Air Niugini, according to emails from a clearly frustrated Epstein assistant whose name is redacted.

This person was familiar with Air Niugini, and found its tracking system too inefficient, as per their email from 2 July 2012.

“I have never been able to track a shipment in the ‘system’. Inwards or outwards. I send in donated medical supplies about 4 times a year to a surgeon and it has much of the same frustrating path as this one seems to be having,” he said.

Yachts and Russians
Even after he died, Epstein’s reach was felt in the Pacific, including in relation to a yacht coming to the attention of the FBI while docked in Palau.

Amid the files is an exchange between late 2021 and early 2022 involving FBI officers following a heads-up that “Epstein’s yacht is parked down here in Palau” amid “a possible effort by a Russian oligarch to use Palau as a haven for their yacht”.

“Is our chain of command interested in this information? The Palauan government I previously tried to provide us with information a couple months ago on a yacht they believe had ties to one of the spin off Jeffery Epstein cases where they also demonstrated a willingness to assist USG/DOJ in impounding the vessel.”

It is unclear if the boat — which an attaché for the FBI in Canberra noted was registered in the Marshall Islands — was ever impounded.

But it is one more Pacific connection in the DOJ’s mass collection of files which, when not redacted, shed light on a powerful abuser whose tentacles spread around the globe.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Samoan playwright, author and poet Papali’i Sia Figiel has died in prison, according to local media reports.

Local media, citing sources at the country’s main correctional facility in Apia, are reporting that Papali’i, 58, was found dead in her prison cell on Monday.

She was being held at Tanumalala Prison, awaiting her next Supreme Court hearing in relation to a murder charge.

• READ MORE: Sia Figiel found dead in jail cell

RNZ Pacific has contacted the Samoan police for comment.

Samoa Observer reports she had been in custody since 2024 for the alleged murder of Professor Caroline Gabbard.

Often described as Samoa’s first woman novelist, Papali’i’s first book, where we once belonged (1996), won the Best First Book award in the South East Asia/South Pacific region of the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 1997. Her second novel was They who do not grieve (1999).

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Papua New Guinea’s death penalty Act of 1984 has been repealed by the National Parliament and all prisoners on death row have had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.

With the new legislation, the penalty for acts of willful murder due to sorcery, aggravated rape, robbery with violence, treason, piracy and willful murder all will face life imprisonment without parole, or parole after 30 years, after the death penalty provisions were repealed yesterday.

These were among 11 Bills passed by the National Parliament over the past two days before rising and adjourning to February 22.

• READ MORE:  After nearly 70 years, the death penalty again becomes a real prospect in Papua New Guinea
• Other reports on the PNG death sentence

Six of these Bills were presented by Justice Minister Bryan Kramer, who proposed amendments to some of the laws to capture the current needs. They include amendments to the Criminal Code Acts to repeal the death penalty Act 1984.

Kramer said 14 prisoners (including two who have escaped from prison) were put on death row by the courts but remained in custody for a long time because the state failed to put the administrative mechanism and infrastructure in place to implement the death penalty.

He said there were nine other prisoners who were sentenced to death since the reintroduction of the death penalty into the criminal justice system in 1991 but some of them have died awaiting execution while others have appealed or reviewed their sentences at the Supreme Court.

He said one of the inabilities to implement the death penalty is the lack of necessary administrative mechanisms and infrastructures in place to carry out the executions.

Difficult to implement
“This was largely attributed to the difficulty presented by a single method of implementation and administration of the death penalty in the past, which was to be done by hanging,” Kramer said.

“It was in view of this that the government amended Section 614 of the Criminal Code Act, which was intended to give greater flexibility and capability to enable the state to implement the death penalty.

“It provided a range of methods of execution of the death penalty for the government to choose from depending on the government’s preparedness and availability of administrative mechanism and infrastructure suitable to that particular method of execution,” he said.

Kramer said that in 2013 the Chief Secretary put together a technical team comprising of officials from the relevant government agencies and the team went on a fact-finding tour of the United States, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. On their return, the team submitted a report titled: “Implementing the death penalty in PNG”.

He said the NEC endorsed and approved the guidelines for the implementation of the death penalty by lethal injection, firing squad and by hanging, but the government had not used any of these methods proposed.

He said according to the report it would be practically difficult to implement all three methods as they would require different protocols and equipment to be used effectively.

“As such, the government does not have the administrative mechanism and the infrastructure to implement the death penalty.

“Therefore, the Criminal Code Act was reviewed to amend all offences that have the penalty of death to be repealed and replaced with the penalty of life imprisonment with or without parole, or with eligibility for parole after 30 years,” he said.

Republished with permission from the PNG Post-Courier.

The 16 protesters at Waikeria Prison have surrendered to authorities after a six-day stand-off.

The news that the men had ended the stand-off came in a statement from Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi, who said he escorted the prisoners out about 12pm today.

Waititi said the prisoners were ready to come down.

• READ MORE: Amnesty calls for caution in ending NZ’s Waikeria prison protest

“Naturally, they were tired and hungry but still very determined to see change.

“They have achieved what they set out to do when they embarked on bringing attention to their maltreatment in prison.”

Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis said the men received food and water and would soon be transported to other prisons around the country.

A plume of smoke could still be seen rising from the fire-damaged buildings at Waikeria Prison this morning.

The 16 inmates had been protesting at the prison since Tuesday, when several fires started.

Widespread destruction
Corrections has said there had been widespread destruction of buildings and property, and the men had acted violently.

But the men had said they were protesting against unacceptable conditions at the prison, after complaints about inhumane treatment had not been listened to.

Davis said the protesters had done a lot of damage to the part of the prison they were in and it was now unusable.

The arson, violence and destruction carried out by the men were reckless criminal acts, and the responsibility for laying charges was with police, he said.

There were many legitimate avenues for prisoners to raise concerns about their conditions, Davis said.

Five of the men involved in the disorder are deportees from Australia, and three are subject to returning offender orders because of their criminal convictions.

At a press conference this afternoon, Davis said he was involved from the outset, but wanted to give professionals the space, time and resources to do their ob.

‘True hero’ negotiators
He said the “true heroes” were the negotiators who spent six days at this site working with the prisoners.

Davis said he had noted before that he did not like the state of the upper part of the prison, but that did not excuse the actions of the protesting inmates.

He said he had “total confidence” all prisoners across the network were being looked after in accordance to the Corrections Act.

Department of Corrections chief executive Jeremey Lightfoot said there was “no excuse” for what the men did, and there were multiple ways for prisoners to complain, including to the Ombudsman.

“Let me be clear, there are many channels to complain,” he said.

Lightfoot said it was not appropriate to take this action as a way of complaining, and it was a criminal act.

He said he was proud of the collaboration between Corrections staff, police and other emergency colleagues, as it was a very complex matter in a dangerous area that took a lot of effort and planning to ensure it was resolved safely.

Prisoners’ supporters on site
Several family members of the prisoners were outside the gates again today and were calling for a peaceful end to the protest.

One told RNZ that their cousin who was protesting did not care if he lived or died, because he was standing up for his rights.

She said he had become fed up with conditions in the jail, and was determined to stick it out.

“He was agitated, he was hungry, he was thirsty… but he said he’d stick it out… at least he knows he’s standing up for his rights and the rights of others who are going to be incarcerated in this prison.”

The woman said her cousin was only on remand for non-payment of fines and had a 6-month-old baby at home.

Corrections had said the men have been given opportunities to negotiate, and would not be given water unless they surrendered.

In a statement earlier this morning, Corrections said the situation remained “incredibly volatile”.

“The prisoners have continued to light fires within the facility overnight, make threats toward our staff and police and throw debris at them from the roof of the buildings.

“Our options for intervention are limited due to the dangers present.”

Waititi, who previously tried to negotiate with the prisoners at their request, had said an Ombudsman’s Report, published in August, supported the men’s claims about the conditions at the prison.

He has called on the government to resolve the situation and end basic human rights breaches.

He said today that while people that do crime must serve their time, they must also be treated in a just and humane way.

“Even prison guards acknowledged to us that the state of the unit was unacceptable.

“These men are not animals, they are humans; they are brothers, fathers and sons and are deserving of better treatment.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The Indonesian human rights advocacy group TAPOL has denounced the sentencing by the district court of Central Jakarta which found six political prisoners guilty of treason yesterday and demanded their immediate release.

Paulus Suryanta Ginting, Ambrosius Mulait, Ariana Elopere, Dano Tabuni, and Charles Kossay were sentenced to nine months imprisonment, whereas Isay Wenda was sentenced to eight months imprisonment.

The six were arrested over their participation in a peaceful protest outside the State Palace in Jakarta on 28 August 2019, during which they flew Morning Star flags and chanted “Free West Papua”.

READ MORE: 63 political prisoners in Indonesia file urgent appeals amid virus pandemic

The first of their trials commenced on 15 December 2019. The prosecutors were seeking one year and five months imprisonment for each, except Isay Wenda, for whom prosecutors sought 10 months.

Suryanta, popularly known as Surya Anta, is the first non-Papuan Indonesian to be detained on treason charges over the West Papua self-determination cause.

The sentences include jail time that they have already served, including eight months for Isay Wenda with a release on 2 May 2020. The other five will still have to spend another month behind bars.

“One month is too long to be serving prison time in this critical pandemic period, as it is anticipated that Indonesia will reach its Covid-19 peak in the coming months,” said TAPOL in a statement.

Other West Papuan political prisoners charged with treason arrested during the uprising are on trial: seven in Balikpapan, four in Manokwari, four in Sorong, and one in Jayapura.

Twenty three political prisoners detained in Fakfak and 11 others in Sorong who were arrested in the lead up to 1 December 2019 and charged with treason are still awaiting trial.

The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has stated that political prisoners should be among the first to be released amid the pandemic.

Human rights lawyers Veronica Koman and Jennifer Robinson, with the support of TAPOL, have submitted a joint urgent appeal to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and UN Special Rapporteurs on 15 April 2020.

“We therefore reiterate the urgency of releasing all political prisoners currently detained in overcrowded prisons where it is impossible to practice physical distancing,” said TAPOL.

“To organise or participate in a protest and to wave flags are internationally protected activities as freedom of expression and assembly are guaranteed under international law”

• The TAPOL urgent appeal

Eight prisoners at the Baisu Correctional Service prison near the Western Highlands provincial capital of Mt Hagen are dead following a massive jail breakout.

Western Highlands Acting Provincial Police Commander David Kongui confirmed that two prisoners have surrendered, while an unknown number of prisoners escaped.

Many of the fugitives, who escaped about midday yesterday, are those who have committed summary and criminal offences and who were remandees at Baisu jail.

READ MORE: Inside the world’s toughest prisons – Bomana in PNG

The reports were still sketchy earlier today, but police and warders have been patrolling the province in an attempt to track them.

After hearing about the Baisu prison breakout, police in Mt Hagen traveled to all suspected escape routes prisoners may have used.

Task force almost ambushed
Mt Hagen Task Force Rat One team nearly lost their lives when they were caught in crossfire between two warring groups at Dei electorate.

The seven policemen on board were nearly ambushed with high-powered guns, but they remained calm and were disarmed by more than 20 men along the Gumanch bridge in Dei electorate.

Police Constable Jonathan Rami, who was driving, said the armed men disarmed them, taking away with more than 30 rounds of ammunition.

This warring group also gave their demands to the police.

Vasinatta Yama is a reporter for EM TV News. Asia Pacific Report republishes articles in partnership with the Pacific Media Centre.

The remarks of renowned American philosopher John Dewey, “If you want to establish some conception of a society, go find out who is in jail”, has been quoted many times to elaborate on the state of freedom in many parts of the world, including Indonesia.

Indeed, reports about people being imprisoned, tortured or executed because of their views or faith are rife in the country.

Looking closely at prisons in Indonesia today, at least 20 people have been locked up for peacefully expressing their views about religion and politics, according to Amnesty International.

Eleven of them were charged with “blasphemy or defamation of religion” and the rest were peaceful pro-independence political activists.

Papua would probably quickly pop up in our minds when talking about the province with the highest number of imprisoned peaceful political activists. Indeed the easternmost province is home to an active armed pro-independence movement.

In western Indonesia, such “insurgence” ended after the government secured a peace agreement with the Free Aceh Movement in 2005.

List of punishers
However, Amnesty International has also identified the underdeveloped province of Maluku, which currently has no record of an armed pro-independence movement, on top of the list of punishers of peaceful political activists.

Eight people from Maluku are serving prison sentences for what the government calls makar (treason). They are Johan Teterissa, Ruben Saiya, Johanis Saiya, Jordan Saiya, John Markus, Romanus Batseran, Jonathan Riry and Pieter Yohanes.

Their only offence is unfurling the Benang Raja flag, a symbol of the aspiration for Maluku’s independence, on June 29, 2007.

Johan Teterissa was leading a group of 22 activists who performed the traditional war dance cakalele in front of then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the Maluku capital of Ambon, before they were all arrested for unfurling the flag.

If Indonesia respects rights to freedom of expression, they should not spend a single day in prison for such peaceful activity. Yet they were thrown behind bars for between 15 and 20 years. Johan was among those denied medical care while at least four of the activists have died in prison.

Amnesty International considers Johan and all those arrested like him prisoners of conscience, who are jailed for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. Their arrests highlight the police’s failure to respect these rights.

Adding insult to injury, in March 2009, Johan and dozens of prisoners of conscience were transferred to prisons in Java, more than 2,500 kilometers away from their home. The isolation meant family visits were almost impossible, which is unnecessary, costly and cruel on prisoners and their families.

Maximum security prison
On November 28, 2016, I had a chance to visit Johan Teterissa at a maximum security prison in Nusakambangan, Central Java, with the help of Amnesty International and the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute as part of a campaign to release all prisoners of conscience in Indonesia.

As a Maluku native, I have been enjoying the fruits of freedom in Indonesia after the fall of Suharto in 1998 through my work as an artist. I have been able to freely express my thoughts through songs peacefully, but many in Maluku like Johan and other activists still lack this basic right to freely express political aspiration.

This is why I am calling on the government to release Johan and his friends and grant them amnesty.

Johan and his friends posed no threats to the president when unfurling the “forbidden” flag, but the government at that time considered the act treason. Their arrests clearly tarnish Indonesia’s image as a free country.

The administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo must correct this mistake to restore Indonesia?s so-called freedoms.

Differences in political views must be clearly respected and expressing it peacefully in public never constitutes a crime. There was recent progress when all the prisoners from Maluku were transferred to a prison in the province, enabling easier access to visits for their families.

The transfer also means the administration is open enough to respect different political views.

Amnesty needed
However, relocating them to a Maluku prison is not enough. They must be granted amnesty. Through amnesty, the Jokowi administration could restore Indonesia’s image as a country where anyone can easily express their ideas freely through peaceful means without fearing criminal charges.

In early 2015, I had an opportunity to meet President Jokowi with other artists. I personally asked the President about the fate of political prisoners from Maluku and Papua. I was happy with his firm answer that he would free all political prisoners as soon as possible.

Shortly after, President Jokowi released and granted clemency to six Papuan political prisoners.

I am sure the transfer of the Maluku political activists is part of his plan to release and grant them amnesty. By doing so the President will rebuild trust and public confidence in the eastern part of Indonesia in the government.

I personally believe the peaceful call for independence derives from political frustration among activists in Maluku. One important fact is that Aboru, the village where Johan and other Maluku activists are from, is still very much underdeveloped and neglected by the central and local government.

The government must tackle the root causes instead of arresting them for peacefully expressing their political aspirations. The President must understand this background, so he would be convinced that granting amnesty is the right course of action to solve this case.

I am confident that President Jokowi will walk his talk to release and grant amnesty to all political prisoners in Papua and Maluku in the near future. So when he is asked “who is in jail?? he can confidently say Indonesia no longer has political prisoners there.

Glenn Fredly is a musician and campaigner for freedom of expression. This article was first published in The Jakarta Post.

Al Jazeera reports that under Canberra’s immigration policy, people intercepted while trying to reach the country by boat are sent to a prison on Manus Island, in Papua New Guinea, or one in Nauru, both of which have been criticised for their harsh conditions and reports of abuse.

An estimated 1200 men, women and children who sought refuge in Australia were transferred instead to Nauru as “part of an Australian government policy since 2012”, Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull reported.

The joint report of the “appalling abuse and neglect” – compiled by researchers from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch who were granted rare access to prisons on Nauru in July – is based on interviews with 84 refugees and asylum seekers from countries including Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, in addition to service providers at the Australian-funded facility.

It alleges the Australian government could not be unaware of conditions at the centre.

“Failure to address serious abuses appears to be a deliberate policy to deter further asylum seekers from arriving in the country by boat,” said Hull.

Successive Australian governments have supported the policy, which they say is needed to stop people drowning at sea during dangerous boat journeys, which usually begin in Indonesia.

‘Cruel in the extreme’
“[The refugees] describe prison-like living conditions in baking heat with many, the report says, developing mental health problems including severe anxiety, inability to sleep, mood swings, prolonged depression, and short-term memory loss,” Amnesty researcher Anna Neistat told Al Jazeera.

“Adults and children spoke openly of having wanted to end their lives.”

Neistat, who conducted the investigation on the island, said Australia’s “policy of exiling asylum seekers” was “cruel in the extreme.

“Few other countries go to such lengths to deliberately inflict suffering on people seeking safety and freedom,” she said.

A spokeswoman for Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection said it had not been consulted by Amnesty regarding the report. She could not confirm if Human Rights Watch had attempted to contact the department.

“The department therefore has had no opportunity to inform itself of these claims and would strongly encourage Amnesty International to contact the department before airing allegations of this kind,” she told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday.

David Manne, of the Australia-based Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre, described the Australian government’s reaction to the report as “both extraordinary and disingenuous.

“It stands to reason that as part of the attempts to enforce secrecy on the details of the arrangements that there have been severe restrictions on the ability of journalists to get into Nauru to report on these matters.”

Nauru, which charges foreign journalists nearly $6,000 for a visa application and restricts access to social networking sites such as Facebook, this year experienced a series of suicides and incidents of detainees hurting themselves in protests over their treatment.

Health workers who reveal information regarding abuse in island’s camps “face up to two years’ imprisonment”, Manne told Al Jazeera.

Broadspectrum, an Australian corporation that runs the facility, and International Health and Medical Services, the facility’s main medical service provider, rejected the allegations when asked for comment, the rights groups said.

The joint report at Amnesty International