(AJI/IFEX) – The following is an AJI statement: Press freedom, which has been guaranteed by the Constitution, is being tested again. Today, August 30, 2006, the South Jakarta District Court opened a trial hearing against Teguh Santosa, editor-in-chief of Rakyat Merdeka (RM) Online, who has been accused of breaching Articles 156 and 156 (a) of […]
(AJI/IFEX) – The following is an AJI statement:
Press freedom, which has been guaranteed by the Constitution, is being tested again. Today, August 30, 2006, the South Jakarta District Court opened a trial hearing against Teguh Santosa, editor-in-chief of Rakyat Merdeka (RM) Online, who has been accused of breaching Articles 156 and 156 (a) of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on defamation against a religion. The journalist faces five years’ imprisonment if found guilty.
The case began when, in its 2 February 2006 edition, RM Online republished three of 12 cartoons taken from the October 2005 edition of the Denmark-based daily newspaper “Jylland Posten”. A group of people who saw the cartoons accused RM Online of defaming the Prophet Mohammed and Islam.
The publication of the Prophet cartoons had earlier raised controversy. RM Online republished the Prophet cartoons to show its readers the pictures that had sparked protests by Islamic believers in various countries, including Indonesia.
Being aware that “the press must be ready to be controlled by the people”, RM Online withdrew the cartoons from its Web site and released an apology to Muslims who felt insulted and that their religion had been degraded by the republication of the cartoons. Teguh Santosa also stressed that there had been no intention to insult any parties, only to fulfill the journalistic duties of seeking out and sharing information.
These gestures of goodwill, however, were not enough. A group of Muslims filed a complaint against RM Online to the police, and the Jakarta High Court followed up by prosecuting RM Online Editor-in-Chief Teguh Santosa, accusing him of insulting the Prophet Mohammed.
With this letter, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Indonesia states:
1. The use of Articles 156 and 156 (a) of the Criminal Code on defamation/degradation of a religion against Teguh Santosa (RM Online) is an effort to criminalize journalists/the press, which is not in line with the spirit of press freedom as stipulated by Article 28F of the 1945 Constitution.
2. Since the very beginning, AJI has always called for the use of the Law on Press Number 40/1999 and rejected the use of an offense against the press in the Criminal Code in efforts to resolve any disputes on the content of press reports, because the latter will potentially lead to journalists self-censoring and threaten press freedom more generally.
3. What Teguh Santosa and Rakyat Merdeka (RM) Online did was fully an effort to meet the public right to know with regard to the cartoon controversy in fulfillment of the duty of the press to seek out and share information with the public.
4. AJI is aware that there is no absolute freedom, including press freedom. However, AJI calls on those individuals and government officials who question a news report or the publication of pictures in the media, to NOT take steps that would send journalists to jail or otherwise limit press freedom. Recourse to regulations on the Right to Counter and the Right to Make Corrections, and the submission of complaints to the Press Council are the best ways of settling press-related disputes.
Jakarta, August, 30 2006
Eko Maryadi, President
Heru Hendratmoko, Coordinator of the Advocay Division
