New York – On 25 July 1997, Naimullah, a reporter with the Jakarta-based morning daily newspaper "Sinar Pagi" was found murdered. Naimullah's body, mutilated by stab wounds in his neck, and bruises on his head, temples, chest, and wrists, was found in the back seat of his car in Pantai Penibungan, about 90 kilometres north of Pontianak, the provincial capital of West Kalimantan. According to reports in the 28 July editions of the newspapers "Media Indonesia" and "Akcaya". Naimullah had recently reported on timber theft and had been conducting an investigation of illegal logging in Kalimantan. He was last seen with four men, including one from the company suspected of having been involved with the logging. He expected to meet someone else from the same company later that day.

Naimullah is the second investigative journalist murdered in Indonesia in the last two months, according to CPJ. Muhammad Sayuti Bochari, a reporter with the Ujungpandang-based weekly "Pos Makasar". died in hospital on 11 June after being found unconscious two days earlier. Sayuti was also researching timber theft and allegations of official corruption (see IFEX alerts). CPJ fears that the killing of Naimullah could be part of a pattern of lethal violence against investigative journalists in Indonesia.