The editor of a leading Indonesian magazine was sentenced to jail yesterday in a high profile libel case that rights groups say represents a setback for press freedoms and the country's emerging democracy.
Tempo magazine editor Bambang Harimurty was found guilty of libeling a prominent businessman and sentenced to one year after an earlier ruling which cleared two Tempo reporters of libel but said their story was defamatory.
The sentence was greeted with derisive jeers in the central Jakarta district court and condemned by journalists who say the case should have been tried using Indonesia's softer press laws rather than its criminal code.
Speaking after the verdict, Harimurty -- who remains free pending an appeal -- said the decision marked a dark day for Indonesia's press, which has only recently emerged from years of censorship under former dictator Suharto.
"I think this verdict is an extraordinarily strong attack on press freedom. I am especially worried that ... other editors, will become scared and your news reports will be censored because they are afraid to go to jail.
"I hope my friends, all other chief editors, will not worry. We will continue our fight and we should not support a government that supports the criminalization of the press," he said.
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS