As one of the country’s most outspoken human rights defenders, Haris Azhar, has long been a gadfly to the nation’s security apparatus.

His recent Facebook post in which he publishes a statement from drug convict Freddy Budiman, who was executed last Friday, has strongly offended institutions mentioned in the post: the Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Police and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN).

The three institutions on Wednesday reported Haris to the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) for defamation. They accused Haris of defaming the institutions in a Facebook post containing Freddy’s statement claiming that the TNI, the police and the BNN were involved in drug smuggling.

National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar told a press briefing they decided to press charges against Haris after representatives of the three institutions held a meeting a day earlier to discuss Haris’ “disappointing” move to post Freddy’s claims on the internet instead of privately informing the law enforcers about them.

Boy claimed that Haris had breached the 2008 Electronic Information and Transaction Law (ITE Law) by circulating defamatory information on the internet.

“We must learn how to properly express criticism so as to avoid defaming others,” Boy said. “Words must be carefully chosen so that criticism does not turn into a boomerang”.

Boy argued that the police institution, in particular, had nothing against criticism. “But we must see which ones are properly drawn and which ones are not,” he said.

Haris, coordinator of the Jakarta-based Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), founded by the slain rights activist Munir Said Thalib, posted on the organization’s Facebook page a conversation between him and Freddy, who claimed that he had over the years given around Rp 450 billion (US$34.42 million) to the BNN and Rp 90 billion to top officials at the National Police.

The conversation took place in mid-2014 when Haris visited Freddy at a prison on Nusakambagan Island in Cilacap, Central Java. Freddy also told Haris that he was free to go in and out of the prison to run his drug business with the help of top officials from the TNI.

Haris, who opposes the death penalty on the grounds that the nation’s judicial system is corrupt, published Freddy’s statement only hours after his execution and that of three Nigerians— Humphrey Jefferson, Michael Titus Igweh and Seck Osmane—on July 28.

The activist is not the first person to publicly claim the involvement of personnel from the police, the BNN and the TNI in the drug business, but he is the first person to face criminal charges for writing about it.

Support for Haris quickly mounted on social media, with the hashtag #SayaPercayaKontras and #ITrustKontras quickly becoming trending topics on Wednesday. Netizens applauded Haris’ bold move and encouraged him to carry on.

Usman Hamid, Haris’ predecessor in Kontras, said his successor had only been talking about what others dared not discuss in public. He deplored the defensive reaction of the police, BNN and the TNI.

“This is against the government’s commitment to fight drugs,” he said. “Haris’ testimony can be used to reach drugs lords, if the government is serious about the war on drugs”.

Usman further said the incident showed how the death penalty was problematic, as Freddy should have been able to give an explanation to the police.

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