3 July 2003

Alert

CPJ concerned for safety of two journalists missing in Aceh


Incident details

Ersa Siregar, Ferry Santoro

journalist(s)

missing
(CPJ/IFEX) - In a 2 July 2003 open letter to Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, CPJ expressed deep concern about the safety of journalists Ersa Siregar and Ferry Santoro, who went missing over the weekend while reporting on the conflict in the northwestern province of Aceh for the private Indonesian television channel RCTI.

Colleagues said that the two were last heard from at around 4:00 p.m. (local time) on 29 June, when Siregar called an RCTI reporter in the town of Lhokseumawe, in northern Aceh, to say they were on the way there from Langsa, a town in the eastern part of the province. Siregar, a senior reporter for RCTI, said he and Santoro, an RCTI cameraman, should arrive in Lhokseumawe by around 8:00 p.m. that night. The two, along with their driver, Rahmatsyah (who like many Indonesians uses only one name), were travelling in a Toyota Kijang minivan, according to news reports.

On 2 July, according to the Indonesian state news agency Antara, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Syafrie Syamsuddin told reporters in the capital, Jakarta, that the military has "coordinated with the martial law administration in Aceh to instruct all district, subdistrict, and village military commands to help locate" the missing journalists.



Source:

Putting free expression issues in perspective.

Sign up to receive IFEX In Context.

Updates to this story

RCTI cameraman Fery Santoro released after almost one year in captivity 17 May 2004 GAM commander announces imminent release of RCTI cameraman Fery Santoro 7 May 2004 Cameraman still held hostage; IFJ and AJI call for independent international inquiry into journalist's death 20 April 2004 IFJ demands that government remove obstacles impeding the release of journalists held hostage in Aceh 18 December 2003 CPJ concerned for safety of kidnapped journalists 8 October 2003 CPJ condemns assault on radio reporter, rebels continue to detain television crew 8 July 2003 RCTI journalists held by GAM rebels in Aceh 4 July 2003

At a glance

Indonesia
Indonesia

IFEX members working in this country 2

 
Key reports and information
 
IFEX is a global network of committed organisations working to defend and promote free expression.
Permission is granted for material on this website to be reproduced or republished in whole or in part provided the source member and/or IFEX is cited with a link to the original item.