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.
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