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LBH Pers concerned about frequent violence against journalists
(kompas
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(kompas.com) (kompas.com)
(kompas.com)
The Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers) has expressed concern over frequent incidences of violence against journalists, including in the latest incident on Tuesday during a Papuan Students Alliance (AMP) rally at the Hotel Indonesia (HI) traffic circle on Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta.
"During the past two months, there have been at least three cases of camera seizure and the erasing of photos by policemen," said Ade Wahyudin of LBH Pers' research and networking division during a media conference in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Journalist Archicco Giulliano of ABC Australia, Step Vaessen of Al-Jazeera and Chris Brumitt of Bloomberg were stopped by police officers and instructed to erase pictures they took and one was reportedly hit.
Wahyudin, who witnessed Tuesday's incident, said two other incidents occurred in Papua to local journalists covering a prayer session.
Meanwhile, Triwibowo Santoso from the Jakarta Journalist Axis said violence against journalists also occurred during the recent final of the Presidents Cup soccer match between Persib Bandung and SriWijaya FC in Jakarta.
Wahyudin said that Article 18, paragraph 1 of Law No. 40/ 1999 on the press stipulated that anyone who intentionally prevented journalists from doing their job could face a two-year prison term or be fined Rp 500 million (US$36,224).
Wahyudin said his institution therefore demanded that National Police chief. Gen. Badrodin Haiti instruct the Jakarta Police chief and the Papua Police chief to investigate police officers who prevented journalists from doing their job.
He also called on the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to conduct an independent investigation and announce its results to the public.
Based on an investigation by LBH Pers, Archicco Giulliano was taking pictures of the chaos and was positioned in front of the Mandarin Oriental. Policemen approach him and told him to delete his photos. He refused and was reportedly hit by the officers. Step Vaessen witnessed the incident and photographed it on his cell phone. Police officers approach him and asked him to erase his photos. When he refused, the police reportedly grabbed his phone and did it for him.
Chris Brumitt, who was nearby in the Halimun busway shelter, was taking photos of the violent protest. The police approached him when fellow officers were chasing the students and took him to the front of the Mandarin Oriental, near Giulliano and Vaessen. They asked him to delete the photos he took, and when he refused they grabbed his camera and asked if they could delete them themselves. (bbn)
