Sander Thoenes (November 7, 1968 – September 21, 1999) was a Dutch journalist who was killed, near Dili in East Timor, by soldiers of the Indonesian army.
On September 21, 1999, Thoenes was killed by soldiers from a company of the Indonesian Army's Battalion 745 as the unit withdrew from the territory, carrying out a deliberate, government-directed, scorched-earth policy as it went.
[1] Florindo Araujo, Thoenes' motorcycle taxi driver, told reporters that he was stopped by at least six men wearing gray Indonesian police uniforms at a roadblock while en route to Becora.
The film was part of the Al Jazeera Correspondent series and featured an interview by the veteran South-East Asia journalist Jon Swain, who narrowly avoided the same fate later that day, nearby on the same road.
Vaessen interviewed General Wiranto, the overall Indonesian military commander at the time and former Presidential candidate, and BJ Habibie the President of Indonesia in 1999.
The award offers recent journalism graduates, each year, a three-month internship at the Financial Times headquarters in London and a scholarship to cover living expenses.
The award is given to Division III students working in journalism; documentary photography, film or video; international relations; globalization; peace-building; civil society and human rights.