Prosecutors Seek Two-Year Prison Sentences for Activists Accused of Inciting August Demonstrations
The Public Prosecutor’s Office (JPU) has sought a sentence of two years imprisonment for Delpedro Marhaen, Director of the Lokataru Foundation, before the Central Jakarta District Court (PN Jakarta Pusat).
Similar charges have been brought against three other defendants: Muzaffar Salim, a Lokataru Foundation staff member and manager of the Instagram account Blok Politik Pelajar; Syahdan Husein, administrator of @gejayanmemanggil; and Khariq Anhar, a Riau State University student and administrator of Aliansi Mahasiswa Menggugat.
According to the prosecution, the defendants have been proven to have engaged in electronic incitement related to demonstrations held between 25-30 August 2025 that resulted in riots, causing damage to public facilities and injuries to law enforcement officers, as stated in the third charge.
“(The court is requested to) impose a prison sentence of two years on Defendant I Delpedro Marhaen, Defendant II Muzaffar Salim, Defendant III Syahdan Husein, and Defendant IV Khariq Anhar, with credit for time served in detention,” the prosecutor stated whilst reading the sentencing recommendations at PN Jakarta Pusat on Friday, 27 February.
In presenting the charges, the prosecutor noted that the defendants were aware that Instagram was an effective platform for disseminating information to the public.
The prosecution stated that the defendants, through Instagram accounts under their respective management, created at least 19 collaborative posts during the period of the late August demonstrations.
The prosecutor deemed the content inciteful because it contained provocative and confrontational narratives.
The content also included consistent hashtags such as #IndonesiaGelap, #IndonesiaSoldOut, and #ReformasiPolri.
Instagram’s algorithm, the prosecutor added, meant that the content created by the defendants had the potential to reach a wide audience.
The Instagram accounts managed by the defendants and challenged by the prosecution are Blok Politik Pelajar, Lokataru Foundation, Gejayan Memanggil, and Aliansi Mahasiswa Menggugat.
“The defendants’ action of posting content on Instagram has been designed to incite or cause public demonstrations that resulted in riots,” the prosecutor said.
“The rapidly viral content caused the riots to occur within a short timeframe before the content could be deleted,” the prosecutor continued in their legal reasoning.
The defendants were charged with violating Article 28, paragraph 3, read together with Article 45A of the Law on Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE Law), read together with Article 55, paragraph (1), point 1 of the Criminal Code, or the third charge under Article 160 of the Criminal Code, read together with Article 55, paragraph (1), point 1.
They were also charged with violating Article 76H, read together with Article 15, read together with Article 87 of Law No. 35 of 2014 concerning Child Protection, read together with Article 55, paragraph 1, point 1 of the Criminal Code.
The defendants were also charged by the prosecutor with violating Article 28, paragraph 2, read together with Article 45A, paragraph 2 of the ITE Law, read together with Article 55, paragraph (1), point 1 of the Criminal Code. However, the court dismissed this first charge as it failed to meet the formal and material requirements of the indictment.
The defendants were initially detained at Salemba State Detention Centre during proceedings at PN Jakarta Pusat. However, prior to the expert examination hearing, the court transferred the defendants’ detention status from state detention to city detention.