Heru Andriyanto – The South Jakarta District Court on Wednesday acquitted Tempo daily of libel over its reporting on the military wing leader of a fundamentalist group, the Islam Defenders Front (FPI).
A panel of judges presided over by Syahrial Sidiq rejected the defamation complaint against the newspaper, which ran a photograph of FPI commander Munarman grabbing the neck of a man described in the caption as a participant of a peace rally in June last year.
Munarman is serving an 18-month jail sentence for last year's attack on a rally promoting religious freedom. Munarman later said the second man in the photograph was a fellow FPI member who he was attempting to restrain.
"The panel has taken into consideration the voluntary correction [by Tempo] following the publication of the photograph and acquit the defendants of all charges," panel member Hari Sasangka said, reading out the decision.
Tempo, one of the country's most influential newspapers, ran a correction on June 3, 2008, in which it acknowledged misidentifying the second man in the photograph.
Besides the newspaper, Munarman also filed suits against its publisher, Tempo Inti Media, and the Wahid Institute owned by former President Abdurrahman Wahid. Immediately after last year's attack, the institute held a news conference to denounce the FPI and distributed the photograph in question to journalists.
Munarman, who did not appear during Wednesday's hearing, had demanded Rp 13 billion ($1.3 million) in damages, the seizure of Tempo's land, buildings and equipment, and a formal apology broadcast on six television stations and published in five newspapers.
In the same verdict, the panel threw out a countersuit by Tempo against Munarman, saying the case "didn't put media freedom under threat."
The court ruling drew a strong response from Munarman's legal team, who described it as a "bad precedent." "The ruling is a bad precedent for getting the media under control," said Syamsul Bahri Radjam, a lawyer for Munarman.
Tempo lawyer Sholeh Ali welcomed the verdict and said the judges safeguarded the freedom of public information. "Tempo newspaper reported the news in a professional manner and we made the necessary correction," the lawyer said.
In October last year, another district court in the capital sentenced both Munarman and FPI leader Habib Rizieq Shihab to 18 months in jail for the June 1, 2008, attacks on members of the National Alliance for Religious Freedom, who were holding a rally at the National Monument square.
FPI members, believing the rally was intended as a show of support for the controversial Muslim sect Ahmadiyah, attacked protesters with sticks and stones, leaving around 70 people injured.
The FPI, which seeks to implement Islamic law in the country, has a reputation as a hard-line group that often vandalizes nightclubs in the belief that they are an affront to Islam.