Two journalists jailed under Indonesia's harsh criminal defamation laws
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the global organisation representing over 500,000 journalists in more than 110 countries, has strongly condemned the imprisonment of two Indonesian journalists under Indonesia's harsh criminal defamation laws.
On Wednesday 4 May 2005 the Lampung District Court in Sumatera Island, Indonesia sentenced two journalists from the Koridor Tabloid - chief editor Darwin Ruslinur and journalist Budiono Saputro - to a nine-month imprisonment, effective immediately.
"This decision is a serious setback to the cause of press freedom in Indonesia," said IFJ President Christopher Warren in a letter to the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"Key players in the major political parties in Indonesia made on the record comments during the last election campaign that defamation should be dealt with only in the civil jurisdiction, in response to the Tempo criminal defamation case," said the IFJ President.
"The government of Indonesia should act immediately and decisively remove defamation from the Criminal Code," he said.
The journalists were found guilty of defaming Alzier Dianis Thabrani and Indra Karyadi in an article published in the Koridor in the 12 - 18 July edition titled "Alzier Dianis Thabranie and Indra Karyadi were Strongly Indicated Corrupt the Fund for Golkar Party's Witnesses of Rp 1,25 Billion".
The article reported on complaints by Golkar Party witnesses about a reduction in the amount of pay they were to receive during the presidential general election in 2004. According to the article, the witnesses were promised a payment of 50,000 Rp by the Golkar Party's campaign team, but received only 15,000 Rp.
As chairman and secretary of the Golkar Party campaign team, Alzier and Indra brought the lawsuit against the Koridor Tabloid journalists.
The IFJ has written to the Indonesian President and expressed its outrage at the court using the Indonesian Criminal Code to punish the journalists, instead of the Indonesian Press Law. The Press Law has an accountability and correction mechanism for the dispute of a media report.
"The use of the Indonesian Criminal Code in defamation cases will undermine freedom of the press and freedom of expression", said the President of the Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI) Eddy Suprapto. "This is not in line with the democratisation and the spirit of combating corruption," he said.
"No journalist should ever be jailed for defamation," said the IFJ.
The IFJ is also deeply concerned at a new draft of the Criminal Code and its implications on media freedom. The controversial new draft of the Criminal Code allows criminal prosecution of journalists who violate the law in the course of their jobs. AJI has noted that at least 49 articles in the draft code could land journalists in jail. Under the proposed new Criminal Code, journalists that violate the code can face up to seven years imprisonment. The new code also undermines press laws put in place to safeguard and encourage media freedom.
The draft code will go to the Indonesian House of Representatives shortly. If passed, the bill will be an enormous blow to freedom of the press in Indonesia. AJI and the IFJ have urged the House of Representatives to remove all articles from the draft that could curb press freedom.
For further information contact Christopher Warren on +61 411 757 668.
The IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 110 countries
