(IPI/IFEX) – In a 4 December 2000 letter to President Abduraman Wahid, IPI strongly condemned the 2 December 2000 arrest of a Swiss journalist by Indonesian police in Jayapura, capital of the Indonesia province of Irian Jaya. According to IPI’s sources, Oswald Iten, a veteran reporter for the Swiss daily newspaper “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”, was […]
(IPI/IFEX) – In a 4 December 2000 letter to President Abduraman Wahid, IPI strongly condemned the 2 December 2000 arrest of a Swiss journalist by Indonesian police in Jayapura, capital of the Indonesia province of Irian Jaya.
According to IPI’s sources, Oswald Iten, a veteran reporter for the Swiss daily newspaper “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”, was detained for taking photographs after having entered the country with a tourist visa. IPI was informed that the authorities used Immigration Law No. 9/1996, which stipulates that journalists may not practice their profession freely unless they have special permission, to incarcerate Iten.
According to IPI, this latest violation of press freedom appears to be part of a concentrated effort to control coverage of events unfolding in Indonesia. Immigration Law No. 9/1996 appears to be a law that was created by one of President Wahid’s predecessors in order to ensure only favourable reporting by foreign journalists visiting Indonesia.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– stating that you consider this discrimination of journalists to be a flagrant violation of everyone’s right to “seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers” as guaranteed by Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
– calling upon His Excellency to ensure that Iten is released immediately and unconditionally
– urging him to do everything in his power to ensure that Immigration Law No. 9/1996 is revoked, and that journalists reporting on events in Indonesia are allowed to carry out their profession safely and without further harassment
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:
H.E. Abduraman Wahid
President
Office of the President
15 Jalan Merdeka Utara
10110 Jakarta, Indonesia
Fax: +62 21 778 182
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
