Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-043-2016

Dear Friends,

Jakarta – Literary forms like the short story and the poem nowadays feature less and less in printed media because of market conditions, an artist says.

On April 22, 2016, several global media groups wrote a letter to Timor Leste Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araujo, urging him to withdraw the defamation case he filed against two local journalists.

Pito Agustin Rudiana, Shinta Maharani, Yogyakarta – Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengku Buwono X has defended the Yogyakarta metropolitan police for shutting down an event commemorating International Press

Bambang Muryanto – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will investigate alleged human rights violations in the recent shutting down of World Press Day celebrations by the police an

Thirty journalists, representing a variety of mass media outlets in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), staged a rally to demand guarantees for press freedom on Tuesday to commemorate World Press Fr

Bambang Muryanto – The Yogyakarta Police dispersed members of the city's Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) as they attempted to commemorate World Press Day on Tuesday.

Lyndal Rowlands, United Nations – High-level defamation, libel and sedition cases in Asian countries are sending signals to journalists that writing critical journalism can cost millions of dollars

Jayapura, Jubi – Journalists have been banned from covering the arrest of protesters who support the West Papua Liberation (United Liberation Movement for West Papua) in the square of the Mobile Br

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the South East Asia Journalist Unions (SEAJU) join international organisations the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Freedom House in

Jakarta – Indonesia is ranked 130th out of 180 countries in the 2016 World Press Freedom Index surveyed by Paris-based international media freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Margaret Wise, NADi, Fiji (The Fiji Times/Pacific Media Watch) – Giving voice to the voiceless and championing the rights of all people is essentially about telling the truth.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) with its affiliates the Timor Leste Press Union (TLPU) and the Timor Leste Journalist Association (TLJA) condemned the actions of the Government of

Tito Sianipar, Jakarta – Indonesia will host the World Press Freedom Day on May 3 and 4 next year.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate Timor Lorosa'e Journalists' Association (AJTL) in strongly criticizing the defamation suit filed by the Timor Leste Prime Minis

Nani Afrida, Jakarta – Last year saw more journalists become victims of violence and various other forms of abuse and disruption when doing their jobs, reports the Alliance of Independent Journalis

[This statement was originally published by SEAPA on 5 February 2016.]

Victor Mambor, Jayapura, Jubi – The chairman of the Jayapura city branch of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Victor Mambor, said although President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has declared t

Phelim Kine – There are new hazards for foreign journalists attempting to report from Indonesia's restive easternmost provinces of Papua and West Papua (generally referred to as "Papua"): visa deni

Tika Primandari, Jakarta – Deputy Foreign Minister Abdurrahman Mohammad Fachir denied that the Foreign Ministry has imposed a ban against foreign journalists from entering Papua to cover human righ

Edo Karensa, Jakarta – Media freedom organization Reporters Without Borders has condemned the Indonesian government for imposing a ban on a French journalist after releasing a documentary on the co

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the Indonesian government's refusal to let French journalist Cyril Payen visit Indonesia following the documentary he made about West Papua, the Indonesian

Callistasia Anggun Wijaya, Jakarta – Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers) has said that freedom of the press declined last year and would most likely continue to as there were still a numbe

Padang – Terror and violence continue to stalk and threaten journalists operating in Sumatra, the Padang Press Legal Aid Institute (LBH) announced in its end-of-year report.

Jakarta – The Indonesian police were responsible for a third of reported assaults against journalists throughout 2015, an advocacy group says.

Sumit Galhotra – "Change does not come overnight," President Joko Widodo's right-hand man, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, told an international delegation of 10 media and freedom of expression

Padang – Dozens of journalists affiliated with the West Sumatra Anti-violence Journalists Coalition (KWAK) staged a rally on Monday at the temporary Padang headquarters of the West Suma

Pekanbaru – Police in Pekanbaru, Riau, have come under fire for clashing with university students and beating a journalist at a congress for the Islamic Students Association.

Victor Mambor, Jayapura, Jubi – The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI-Indonesia) in strongly criticizing the actions of

James Burke – Dutch journalist and filmmaker Rohan Radheya spent five months undercover to document West Papua's ongoing struggle for independence from Indonesia's brutal rule.

Phelim Kine and Andreas Harsono – In September, Jakarta-based French journalist Marie Dhumieres decided to test whether Indonesia's decades-long barring of foreign media from Papua had

Victor Mambor, Jakarta, Jubi/IFEX – An international delegation of media and freedom of expression organisations met with the Indonesian government to discuss the state of media in the country.

Jakarta – Indonesian authorities continue to restrict access by foreign journalists and rights monitors to Indonesia's easternmost provinces of Papua, raising serious concerns about the

Jessica Elgot – Two British journalists held for more than five months in an Indonesian prison have described their relief at being back on UK soil but criticised the Foreign Office for a dismissiv

There are calls for Australia's prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to raise the matter of human rights abuses in West Papua with his Indonesian counterpart.

Indonesia has no travel restrictions on foreign journalists in its easternmost province of Papua, the country's security chief said on Wednesday, vowing to dismiss any police officials who blocked

The lid is lifting on what has been for so long Asia/Pacific's hidden region.

Jakarta – Police are looking into claims of threats made against three television reporters covering the high-profile murder of an anti-mining activist in East Java.

National – West Papua National Committee (KNPB) deputy chairman Agus Kossay and two other Papuans, Bano Kalaka and Nodi Hilka, were interrogated on Friday in connection with the arrival of French j

Fadli, Batam – Two British journalists recently found guilty by a court in Riau Islands of visa violations were finally released from detention on Thursday and will soon leave Indonesia after clear

Jewel Topsfield – Two British filmmakers who were arrested for filming a documentary about piracy without a journalism visa have been sentenced to two months and 15 days jail.

The Governor of Indonesia's Papua province has warned that indigenous Papuans could disappear as a people if they remain marginalised in their own land.

Paris – Reporters Without Borders is very disappointed by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's performance over freedom of information and media freedom during his first year in office.

Reporters Without Borders is very disappointed by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's performance as regards freedom of information and media freedom during his first year in office.

Jakarta – The Independent Alliance of Journalists, or AJI, has criticized police and military for the alleged intimidation of journalists covering the President's Cup football final in Jakarta on S

Jakarta – The court trial of two British journalists for allegedly filming a documentary about piracy in the Malacca Strait has set a very bad precedent for press freedom, their lawyer said.

Fadli, Batam, Riau Islands – The second trial of two UK citizens has begun in Batam District Court on Thursday.

Oliver Holmes, Bangkok – Two British journalists are facing five years in jail in Indonesia for making a documentary about piracy while allegedly on tourist visas.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the prosecution of British journalists Rebecca Prosser and Neil Bonner, who were arrested by the Indonesia navy in the Malacca Strait on 28 May

Yogyakarta, Jubi – Papua councilor Lauzensus Kadepa accused the national media in Jakarta of fuelling the conflict in Papua.