AJI protests attacks on journalists

Bambang Bider and Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Pontianak/Bandar Lampung

The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) staged a demonstration to protest attacks against three journalists in Lampung and Pontianak, and demanded authorities to investigate the incidents thoroughly.

In Bandar Lampung, hundreds of journalists rallied on Tuesday in support of Syaifullah, a photojournalist at Lampung Post, who was attacked by a group of police officers on Monday.

Syaifullah gave his account of the incident to fellow journalists during the rally, that he was beaten and his camera seized when he was taking a photograph of several police beating up a driver who had hit their police car.

The rally, which was held at the Solfian Achmad Journalist Hall, concluded after the protesters agreed to establish an advisory team to back Syaifullah in the case.

Sr. Comr. Deddi Junaedi, chief of Bandar Lampung Police, said that the incident would be investigated thoroughly, and the delinquent police officers punished.

In a separate incident, two journalists were attacked in Pontianak on Monday.

Anton Perdana, 22, a journalist at Equator daily, and Rizal Ardiyansyah, 23, a journalist at Volare radio station, reported that they were beaten by a member of the city legislative council.

The attack was linked to Anton's article on an alleged bribery case that involved the councillor, who was identified only as H.

Ali Hanafia, chairman of the city council, called on local police to investigate the case thoroughly and fairly. "The councillor must be punished if he is found guilty in the case," he said.