AJI members formally charged by police

AJI members formally charged by police

JAKARTA (JP): Police announced on Saturday that they have
formally detained three members of the Alliance of Independent
Journalists (AJI), whom they accuse of spreading anti-government
sentiment by means of an unlicensed bulletin, Independen.

The three were arrested on Thursday evening along with two
other people after the conclusion of a gathering held by the
group at the Wisata International Hotel in Central Jakarta.

City Police spokesman, Lt. Col. Bambang Haryoko, told
reporters on Saturday that the suspects were Ahmad Taufik, Eko
Maryadi and Danang.

The first two are, respectively, a former reporter and a
former staff member of the recently outlawed Tempo magazine.
Danang was a member of the AJI's office staff at the alliance's
headquarters in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.

"The three have been formally detained since Friday," the
spokesman said.

Two other members, identified by the police as Jimmy Sakir and
Abdul Haris, had been released but were still needed as witnesses
in the case, he said.

According to Bambang, the police have also confiscated 11
copies of the latest issue of AJI's Independen bulletin. The
confiscated publication contains articles regarding, among other
things, the leadership succession in Indonesia. Sources say some
10,000 copies of the latest edition were printed.

Police said that copies of the bulletin, whose front page
states it is intended for internal group distribution, were sold
publicly at hotels.

"By law, if they want to produce, distribute and sell a
publication to the public, they must obtain a valid license from
the government," Head of the City Police Crime Investigation
Directorate Col. Nurfauzi said on Friday.

"That's the law, which all of us have to obey," the senior
police detective said.

Police said that the five suspects had been picked up at the
hotel after an Halal bi Halal (Moslem gathering after the Idul
Fitri festival) party held at the three-star hotel by the
journalists group.

"They were formally arrested on the basis of facts and data we
have compiled," Bambang said.

In contrast the police version of events, the AJI claims that
Taufik, Danang and two other people left city police headquarters
later on the evening of their arrest after they found that they
were being ignored by police.

Police arrested some of the suspects on the next day, AJI
said.

The three suspects were later detained at the City Police
Headquarters, awaiting completion of the dossiers.

"I know that all of the (AJI's) members are quite brave.
Therefore, I urge them to come to the police stations to provide
testimony," Bambang said.

If found guilty of sowing the seeds of discontent among the
public, the suspects will face up to seven year's imprisonment.

It is believed that a number of other people from the alliance
as well as the bulletin's publisher will be questioned by the
police in relation to the bulletin's production, distribution and
sale.

The AJI, which was founded last year after the banning of
three Indonesian newsweeklies in June, is yet to be recognized by
the government.

To date, the government recognizes only the government-
sponsored Indonesian Journalists Association as representing
journalists' interests.

Many former journalists of the banned weeklies joined the
alliance, which has produced a number of issues of Independen
with articles on controversial topics.

According to spokesman Bambang, police officers have
determined that the bulletin was sold to the public at the hotel
at a price of Rp 2,000 (90 US cents) per copy.

"They (the AJI members) have the right to claim that they
didn't sell it to the public, but to participants in the
gathering at the hotel. But who can guarantee that all the buyers
were participants in the gathering?" Bambang asked. (bsr)