Courts told to free RI, Thai journalists

Courts told to free RI, Thai journalists

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A group of journalist associations has stepped up the pressure on
Indonesia and Thailand to free several journalists being tried in
the two countries for defamation.

Journalist Bambang Harymurti is being tried in Jakarta, while
researcher Supinya Klangnarong and several journalists from the
daily Thai Post are on trial in Bangkok.

The call for the journalists' release comes as courts in the
two countries prepare to announce their decisions in the
journalists' cases on Monday.

Spearheaded by the London-based Article 19, the associations
said in a joint statement the civil and defamation charges
against Bambang, Supinya and the Thai Post journalists,
particularly where there was a threat of imprisonment,
represented a breach of freedom of expression.

"The charges send a negative message to all journalists and
media organizations, exerting a chilling effect on freedom of
expression and undermining the ability of the media to fulfill
its role as watchdog of the government and the powerful
establishment," said the group in a statement released on
Saturday.

Members of the group include Article 19, a non-governmental
organization focusing on freedom of expression, the Jakarta-based
Institute for Studies on the Free Flow of Information and the
Thai Broadcast Journalist Association.

In Indonesia, prominent journalist Bambang Harymurti, the
chief editor of Tempo weekly magazine, will hear on Monday the
court's verdict in his defamation case. The charge was filed
against him by businessman Tomy Winata.

Prosecutors have demanded Bambang be sentenced to two years in
jail for causing social unrest and defaming Tomy.

The district court will also hand down verdicts for two other
Tempo journalists, Ahmad Taufik and Tengku Iskandar Ali, who have
also been charged with defamation.

The charges against the three journalists stem from an article
published last year in Tempo magazine, titled Is Tomy in
Tenabang? The article implied that Tomy was connected to a
devastating fire that destroyed much of the Tanah Abang textile
market in February 2003.

In Thailand, Supinya, the secretary-general of the Campaign
for Popular Media Reform, and several Thai Post journalists were
also brought to court after the daily ran a story on July 16 last
year suggesting that a company linked to Prime Minister Thaksin
Sinawatra was the beneficiary of Thaksin's policies. The article
noted a sharp rise in the company's profits since Sinawatra took
office in February 2001.

The company, Shin Corp., Thailand's largest telecommunications
company, whose main shareholder is the Sinawatra family, filed a
defamation suit against Supinya and the Thai Post journalists,
seeking monetary compensation from the defendants.