A Salt Lake man who was arrested and accused of being a spy by police in Indonesia was released and deported to Singapore Tuesday.
Aaron Maness, 45, was picked up by Indonesian Security Forces on Oct. 6. Until Tuesday, he had had very little contact with his family in Utah.
The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, accused Indonesia's defense minister of whipping up anti-American feelings by denouncing Maness as a spy.
Maness' ordeal began at the end of June when he left Utah for Indonesia. Maness has degrees in anthropology and psychology and travels around the world regularly to study indigenous people and their customs.
Ruth Maness, Aaron's sister, said he has been to every country in the world except Antarctica.
"We never know where he is until he contacts us," said Lorene Maness, Aaron's mother.
According to e-mails sent by Aaron Maness to his sister, on Oct. 6, the army of Indonesia attacked a village in West Papua, also known as Dutch New Guinea.
The army wanted to tear down a flag that had been raised by the Papuan citizens of Wamena, Maness said.
The Papuans, with their bows and spears, were no match for the guns of the Indonesian army, Maness said.
Maness visited the hospital in Wamena after the attack and photographed natives who had been shot. Eighteen Papuans were killed, said Maness. He also photographed 15 wounded.
Maness called the attack a "basic violation of human rights."
After leaving the hospital, Maness was arrested andhis belongings seized. He later wrote to his sister, "Apparently, as a tourist, you are only supposed to see and photograph happy and mindless things. If you do anything else, then you have violated your tourist visa."
"I guess they thought he was a spy," said Lorene Maness. "They seemed really annoyed with him."
Maness was turned over to the police in Hollandia. After a week in custody, he was turned over to the immigration service and was told he had violated his visa, a crime punishable by up to four years in jail.
During his time in custody, Maness may have been "roughed up," said Ruth Maness.
On Oct. 21, Aaron Maness was finally able to send e-mails to his sister. But she said the messages had to be cryptic for his own protection. In one case, he used the words "Cougars" and "Utes" to describe the good guys and the bad guys.
Finally, Ruth Maness received an e-mail Tuesday that her brother was out of Indonesia. He wrote an e-mail to her saying "I'm out of the lions' den."
Details of his release were still unclear Tuesday afternoon, said his sister.
She said her brother reportedly was much thinner and a bit shaken. But his biggest concern was for the Papuans he had befriended, fearing the Indonesian army would punish them for their involvement with him.
Aaron Maness also included another cryptic message in his last letter, which his sister has yet to interpret. He said, "The infection in my veins is better so the chemical assault is finally working."
Ruth Maness said she and her family are relieved their loved one is out of Indonesia.
"Our prayers and thoughts were constantly with him," she said.
The Maness family is hoping he will be back in Utah by the end of the month.
E-MAIL: preavy@desnews.com