(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 6 December 2000 letter to President Abdurrahman Wahid, CPJ expressed its deep concern over the prolonged detention of Swiss journalist Oswald Iten in Jayapura, Irian Jaya, on suspicion that he violated Indonesia’s immigration laws by reporting without a press visa. Police have threatened Iten with a five-year jail term for improper […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 6 December 2000 letter to President Abdurrahman Wahid, CPJ expressed its deep concern over the prolonged detention of Swiss journalist Oswald Iten in Jayapura, Irian Jaya, on suspicion that he violated Indonesia’s immigration laws by reporting without a press visa.
Police have threatened Iten with a five-year jail term for improper use of his tourist visa, according to the Agence France-Presse news service.
Iten, 50, is a veteran foreign affairs correspondent for the Zurich-based newspaper “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”. On the afternoon of 2 December, police arrested the journalist at his hotel in the capital city of Jayapura. His arrest followed a raid on the headquarters of the West Papua independence
movement, and comes amid a general crackdown on separatist activity in Irian Jaya province.
On 4 December, Iten told reporters that he was being held in unsanitary conditions along with twenty-eight other inmates. On 6 December, Lt. Col. Daud Sihombing, police chief in Jayapura, said that once the police conclude their investigation, they intend to prosecute Iten, despite the journalist’s offer to leave the country immediately.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– expressing your dismay that even in democratic Indonesia, it is still possible to prosecute journalists for violating visa restrictions that the former Suharto regime designed to control the
flow of information
– noting that the requirement that foreign journalists obtain special permission to work in Indonesia is a restrictive, repressive relic of an authoritarian system, and is inconsistent with his administration’s avowed commitment to reform
– respectfully urging His Excellency to do everything within his power to assure that Iten is not prosecuted for his activities in Irian Jaya, and that he is released without delay
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:
His Excellency Abdurrahman Wahid
President, Republic of Indonesia
Office of the President
Bina Graha, Jalan Veteran No. 17
Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia
Fax: +62 21 778 182
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
