Jakarta – Member groups of the Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations expressed their deep concern on Friday over the continued persecution of Erwin Arnada, the former chief editor of the Indonesian edition of Playboy magazine, over charges that two courts had ruled to be unfounded.

The government prosecutor nevertheless appealed to Indonesia's Supreme Court and obtained a two-year prison sentence that the Supreme Court is now reviewing on a new appeal by the defense.

"Since Arnada has cooperated with judicial authorities at every stage of the proceedings, it is hard to escape the conclusion that imprisoning him pending the outcome of the review is in fact a form of political harassment," the group said in a statement.

"We understand that the Indonesian society may enforce its own standards of decency; however this must be done with full respect for international standards on press freedom and freedom of expression, to which Indonesia has subscribed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international agreements."

The group urged the Indonesian Supreme Court to refer to the 1999 Law on the Press rather than the Criminal Code in reviewing Erwin's sentence, and to take into consideration that a prison sentence would not only violate international standards on press freedom, but also have a chilling effect on press freedom in Indonesia.

It said the government must release Erwin immediately since no legal purpose was served by imprisoning him pending a judicial review.