Medan Police release editor held on charges of libel
Medan Police release editor held on charges of libel
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
The Medan Police in North Sumatra have released Sinar Indonesia
Baru (SIB) executive editor Azrin Marydha, who had been held for
two weeks on charges of libel over a caricature published last
month by the newspaper.
Azrin left the Medan Police station at around 8:30 p.m. on
Thursday night, after at least 10 chief editors of publications
based in Medan signed a letter requesting that the police suspend
his detention.
Azrin's family and the North Sumatra chapter of the Indonesian
Journalists Association (PWI) were among the signatories of the
letter.
Local PWI chairman Muchyan A.A. said on Friday the request was
made only for humanitarian reasons and was not an attempt to
intervene in the police's investigation.
As a Muslim, Azrin needed to join his family to celebrate Idul
Fitri, which falls on Sunday, Muchyan added.
"We don't want to interfere in the legal process ... But to
show solidarity among journalists, we ask the police to suspend
the detention of Azrin," he told The Jakarta Post.
Muchyan said that based on Press Law No. 40/1999, police
should not have detained Azrin because he had not been charged
with a common crime.
Azrin was arrested on Oct. 29 at his home after a group of
Muslim student protesters reported him to the Medan Police, after
his daily newspaper ran a cartoon in its Oct. 24 edition, which
they said defamed Islam and its followers.
The cartoon comprised three frames. The first showed a Muslim
man praying, his shirt bore the acronym KKN (corruption,
collusion and nepotism). Above the image was the phrase: "Fasting
is useless if it is followed by further sinful acts".
The second showed a man wearing a white cap and sarong and
carrying a stick, while the slogan above it referred to gambling
and corruption.
The cartoonist, identified only by his initials SS, was also
detained.
North Sumatra Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Bambang Prihady said
on Friday his office had also named SIB chief editor GM
Panggabean as a suspect in the same case, after he failed to
respond to two summonses for questioning.
However, the police did not detain him.