New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens said he was looking forward to being reunited with his family after being freed after more than one-and-a-half years in captivity in Indonesia’s West Papua region.
His release follows an offer of terms made this week by rebels in the region.
Speaking at a press conference, Mehrtens said: “Today I have been freed. I am very happy that shortly I will be able to go home and meet my family. Thank you for everybody who helped me today, so I can get out safely in a healthy condition.” Mehrtens was flown to Jakarta in an air force plane after his release.
Indonesia’s Metro TV had earlier showed Mehrtens speaking tearfully to his family by phone.
Mehrtens did not appear to be suffering post-traumatic stress although he had lost a lot of weight, said Bambang Trisnohadi, a lieutenant general with the Indonesian military, at the press conference.
New Zealand’s prime minister, Christopher Luxon, said on X he was grateful Mehrtens had been released.
“My appreciation to all those in Indonesia and New Zealand who have supported this positive outcome for Phillip and his family,” Luxon said.
Mehrtens, a former Jetstar pilot, was taken hostage by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) in February 2023 as a bargaining chip for its push for independence from Indonesia. It came after he landed a small commercial passenger plane at Paro airport in Nduga, the centre of the growing Papuan insurgency.
On Tuesday, the TPNPB released a statement outlining the terms of his release, detailing a number of conditions to be followed by the Indonesian government, including allowing “open access” for media to be involved in the release process.
It also called for the Indonesian government to suspend military operations during Mehrten’s release, and for the New Zealand government to “provide space” for Mehrtens to convey “what he felt” during his year and seven months with the TPNPB.
In August gunmen from the rebels allegedly shot dead New Zealand helicopter pilot Glen Malcolm Conning.
Earlier this week it was revealed the rebels had proposed termsafter promising in February Mehrten would be released.
Peters said he was “pleased and relieved” to confirm Mehrtens was “safe and well and has been able to talk with his family”.
“This news must be an enormous relief for his friends and loved ones,” he said.
In comments reported by Radio NZ, Peters said he had not yet spoken to Mehrtens but negotiations had been nerve-racking.
“It was always a concern of ours that we might not succeed. The hardest thing in an environment with no trust is to establish trust,” he said.
“It’s one of the better stories I’ve had in my career, I have to say.”
Government agencies had been working with Indonesian authorities for 19 months to secure the release, he said.
“The case has taken a toll on the Mehrtens family, who have asked for privacy. We ask media outlets to respect their wishes and therefore we have no further comment at this stage.”
Mehrtens’ kidnapping renewed attention on the long-running and deadly conflict that has raged in West Papua, which makes up the western half of the island of New Guinea, since Indonesia took control of the former Dutch colony in 1969.
The TPNPB is the armed wing of the Free West Papua Movement, which has continued to demand a fair vote on self-determination.
Peaceful acts of civil disobedience by Indigenous West Papuans, such as raising the banned “Morning Star” flag, are met with police and military brutality and long jail sentences.
In 2022, UN human rights experts called for urgent and unrestricted humanitarian access to the region because of serious concerns about “shocking abuses against Indigenous Papuans, including child killings, disappearances, torture and mass displacement of people”.
