AJI President, Suwarjono, said: “Allegations made by the East Java chapter of Relawan Perjuangan (Volunteers for the Struggle) or Repdem that Dandhy Dwi Laksono had cast aspersions on Indonesia’s fifth president Megawati Soekarnoputri and current president Joko Widodo might have derived from lack of in-depth analysis of the journalist’s writing.”
“Upon rereading, we could see that the writing did not diverge from the facts and data that Dandhy Laksono had gathered in his journalism activities,” Suwarjono said.
Under Article 27 (3) in conjunction with Article 45 (3) of Indonesia’s Electronic Information and Transaction (ITE) law: “Any Person who knowingly and without authority distributes and/or transmits and/or causes to be accessible Electronic Information and/or Electronic Records with contents of affronts and/or defamation shall be sentenced to imprisonment of 4 (four) years at maximum and/or fine of IDR 750 million at maximum.”
The IFJ said: “The allegations made against Dandhy Dwi Laksono are an attempt to silence critical voices in Indonesia. Defamation is increasingly been used across the region to create a culture of fear among the media. Journalists must be free to write, without fear of persecution. We stand with AJI and the media community in supporting Dandhy and call for the investigation to be dropped.”
For further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific on +61 2 9333 0946
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