TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Violence against journalists worse in 2016: LBH Pers
Change Size
Fight for your rights – Hundreds of journalists stage a peaceful rally to protest violence against journalists in front of the Soewondo Air Force Base in Medan, North Sumatra, on Aug. 16. (JP/Apriadi Gunawan)
T
he Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers) recorded an increasing number of incidents of violence against journalists in 2016, most of which, allegedly, were committed by police officers
“During 2016, the LBH Pers notes that at least 83 cases of violence against journalists occurred,” LBH Pers executive director Nawawi Bahrudin said in Jakarta on Wednesday while presenting his year-end report.
The figure is almost double that of last year, which recorded 47 incidents.
Nawawi said the most recurrent form of violence involved the prohibition of journalists from carrying out their reporting responsibilities alongside oppression and terror.
He claimed that most of the violence was committed by police officers.
“The most vicious case is the one against a female journalist in Medan, North Sumatra [who was allegedly sexually harassed]. Also, the case of Zuhdy Febriyanto in Riau was very brutal. He was allegedly beaten up by several police officers,” he said.
(Read also: Journalists condemn military brutality)
On Friday, a year-end report from the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) revealed that violence against journalists had reached its highest level in a decade.
According to the report, 78 cases of violence against journalists and one murder occurred between January and December, almost double the figure in 2015. (fac)
