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.