Calls increase for Bambang's release

BATAM, Riau Islands: Scores of print and television journalists protested on Monday outside the Batam District Court, calling for the Supreme Court to release Tempo Magazine chief editor Bambang Harymurti from all criminal defamation charges.

Grouped under the Batam Journalists Alliance, the journalists unfurled banners and posters in a noisy protest outside the court with messages such as "Don't Stop Press Freedom" and "Journalists Are Not Criminals".

Bambang was sentenced in a Jakarta court to a one-year jail term for criminal defamation earlier this year over an article written about businessman Tommy Winata. He is free pending his appeal to the Supreme Court. -- JP