JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesian police detained 18 suspected rebels for raising a separatist flag Tuesday in the remote eastern province of Papua.

The men raised the "Morning Star" flag, a symbol of the banned Free Papua Movement, outside the office of the independent Papuan Customary Council in the town of Timika, police chief Godhelp Mansnembra said. Flying the flag is a crime punishable by up to life in prison.

The men were being questioned and likely would be prosecuted under subversion laws, Mansnembra said.

The maximum penalty was given earlier this year to a man who raised an independence flag during a performance for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Indonesian authorities are sensitive about secessionist issues and have been accused of violating the rights of suspects in Papua, Maluku and Aceh provinces.

Papua, a desperately poor, militarized province on Indonesia’s easternmost tip, is home to a small group of separatist rebels seeking to break from Jakarta.