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ARCHIVES: Indonesia

November 12, 2014

Media groups call on Indonesian president to tackle impunity record

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the South East Asian Journalist Unions (SEAJU) have urg d Indonesia's government to push for justice for journalists killed in the line of duty. The new government under President Joko Widodo must commence serious investigations into the eight unresolved murder cases against journalists in the country and ensure Indonesia rids itself of its impunity record, SEAJU said. As the key forum for journalist unions in Southeast Asia, SEAJU remains... MORE
November 7, 2014

Two journalists back in France after 11 weeks in Indonesian jails

French journalists Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat returned Thursday last to France after being detained for 11 weeks in the Indonesian province of Papua, where a court in Papua’s capital, Jayapura, convicted them the previous week of misusing tourist visas to work as journalists. They arrived in Paris in the morning and, along with their families, were received in the evening at Reporters Without Borders headquarters by RWB staff, their support committee, the Memento TV production company... MORE
October 28, 2014

Indonesia: French journalists to be freed after getting two and a half months sentences

The release of Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat , two French journalists who have been held for the past 11 weeks in Indonesia’s eastern province of Papua on a charge of misusing their tourist visas to do investigative reporting, is imminent. After being sentenced Friday to two and a half months in prison by a court in Jayapura, Papua’s capital, they are to be released this week. The prosecutor requested a four-month sentence but the judge decided to sentence them to a period similar to... MORE
October 16, 2014

Indonesia should release two detained French journalists

After holding French journalists Valentine Bourrat and Thomas Dandois in the eastern province of Papua for 70 days, the Indonesian authorities announced Tuesday that they will be tried on a charge of misusing an entry visa, which carries a possible five-year jail sentence. The authorities decided to go ahead with a trial in Papua’s capital, Jayapura, on 20 October despite many international calls for their release, including a petition launched by Reporters Without Borders and the Bourrat and... MORE
October 8, 2014

Petition for the release of two French journalists held in Indonesia

As French journalists Valentine Bourrat and Thomas Dandois begin their third month in detention in Indonesia, their support committee in France and Reporters Without Borders are launching a petition for their immediate release. The petition, which notes that “fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to inform, concern the immense majority,” has already been signed by leading journalists such as Édith Bouvier, Claire Chazal, Laurent Delahousse, Guy Lagache, Jean-Pierre Pernaut, Patrick Poivre... MORE
September 9, 2014

Pressure mounts on West Papua as French journalists mark one month in detention

Monday marks one month in detention for French journalists Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat who were arrested alongside three members of the West Papua separatist movement (OPM) in Wewena, West Papua. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI) Indonesia in calling for the immediate release for two French journalists. Dandois and Bourrat, were in Indonesia working on a documentary about the separatist movement for the Franco-German... MORE
September 3, 2014

IFJ calls on Indonesian president to release French journalists

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has written to the outgoing President of the Republic of Indonesia, Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, calling on him to allow the immediate release of two French journalists detained in West Papua since last month. The request from IFJ Asia-Pacific called on Dr Yudhoyono to give a presidential order to release the pair as evidence of the country’s more open position to journalists working in West Papua. The call is being backed by the French Union of... MORE
August 12, 2014

Indonesia arrests two French journalists reporting in Papua

Indonesian authorities have detained two French journalists since last week, according to news reports. Documentary filmmakers Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat were detained after reporting on the separatist movement in the restive eastern region of Papua and have been accused of entering the country illegally on a tourist visa, the reports said. Foreign journalists are required to obtain a journalist visa in order to work in Indonesia. For coverage of Papua and West Papua, reporters must... MORE
August 12, 2014

IFJ condemns arrest of French journalists in West Papua

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the arrest and subsequent charging of two French Journalists in the eastern province of West Papua and called for their immediate release. On Friday, August 8, the two journalists Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat were arrested in the city of Wawena, along with three separatists from the Free Papua Movement (OPM), who were reported to be assisting them on a story. The pair work for the Franco-German television channel Arte and... MORE
June 24, 2011

Indonesia: Former Playboy editor freed after eight months in prison

Erwin Arnada, the former editor of the Indonesian version of Playboy magazine, was released June 24 after the supreme court accepted his appeal against a two-year jail sentence on a charge of indecency, overturning its own decision. He began serving the sentence last October. “Now it is proved, I am not guilty, journalism is not a crime,” Arnada said in his first Tweet after being freed from Cipinang high-security prison in Jakarta, where he spent eight months. He was jailed as a result of... MORE

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