Two journalists will mark International Press Day on May 3 by requesting a judicial review of articles in the Criminal Code that they claim threaten press freedom, they announced Friday.

Petitioners Risang Bima Wijaya, a former reporter who currently heads daily newspaper Radar Jogja, and Bersihar Lubis, a freelance journalist and columnist, have both previously been convicted for writing news stories considered insulting to other parties.

Bersihar was later acquitted after he filed a case review with the Supreme Court.

The lawyer for the two journalists, Hendrayana from the Legal Aid Institute for the Press, said his clients were petitioning the Constitutional Court to review four articles in the Criminal Code, as well as other regulations, that have the potential to silence the press.

"Offended parties often use these four articles to file lawsuits against journalists, instead of applying the press law," Hendrayana said.

The articles are 207, 310 (Verse 1 and 2), 311 (Verse 1) and 316, which deal with defamation and libel.

Hendrayana said the articles ran counter to Article 28E of the Constitution on freedom of expression and Article 28F on freedom to obtain and distribute information, as well as Article 19 on civil and political rights in the Universal Human Rights Declaration of 1948.

"The recently passed bill on electronic information and transactions is now posing another threat to our press freedom," Hendrayana said.

In 2003, Rakyat Merdeka chief editor Karim Paputungan was sentenced to a five-month suspended prison term for publishing a cartoon deemed insulting to then House of Representatives speaker Akbar Tandjung.

His managing editor Supratman was given a six-month suspended sentence for insulting then president Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Since then, further lawsuits have been filed against press workers for reports deemed libelous, including against Tempo magazine by businessman Tommy Winata and Time magazine by former president Soeharto.

Tempo journalist Metta Dharmasaputra and Hendri John of the Jejak tabloid are currently facing lawsuits over their journalistic work.

The legal aid institute recorded 11 criminal cases, nine civil cases, nine labor cases and one freedom of the press case against members of the press between May 2007 and May 2008.

Risang and Bersihar will file the petition for judicial review based on a 2006 precedent, when the Constitutional Court revoked the article in the Criminal Code dealing with defamation against the president.

Hendrayana said the government must rely fully on Press Law No. 40/1999 to settle cases of libel and insult involving journalists and must stop applying any regulations that hampered the democratic development of the Indonesian press.

"We urge the government to stop criminalizing the press," Hendrayana said. (nkn)

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