John Martinkus

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John Martinkus is a print and television journalist renowned in his native Australia for his courageous reporting from conflict zones. He began reporting from Indonesian occupied East Timor in 1995 and set up base there permanently in 1998. His reporting for Associated Press helped sway international opinion and send in a UN peacekeeping force in late 1999 after the Indonesian military reacted violently to a UN held referendum in which 87% of East Timorese voted for Independence. He has also reported extensively from Papua and Aceh in Indonesia, two provinces which have also had long running wars for separation from Indonesia. He has reported from Afghanistan and Iraq and in October 2004 he was kidnapped outside his hotel in Baghdad by Sunni Insurgents who released him 24 hours later after using the internet to verify his status as a journalist.