Indonesian court jails
radio station manager

The international media group Reporters Without Borders has condemned the six month prison sentence imposed by an Indonesian court on a radio station manager, calling the sentence “disproportionate” and “politically motivated.”

In a letter to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, RSF Secretary-General Jean-Francois Julliard said the sentence imposed on Radio Era Baru manager Gatot Machali appeared to be the result of pressure by China. Machali’s radio program has repeatedly denounced human rights violations in China, “including violations of the rights of Uyghurs, Tibetans and member sof the banned religious movement Falun Gong.”

“According to the station’s president, Raymond Tan, citing the leaked copy of a letter from the Chinese embassy in Indonesia, the prosecution is the result of direct pressure by the Chinese government on the Indonesian authorities with the aim of preventing the station from broadcasting its programmes,” Julliard’s letter stated.

RSF said a panel of three judges in Batam, Riau province passed the sentence on Machali along with a one year suspended sentence and a fine of 50 million rupees. Machali was charged with “broadcasting without permission and disrupting neighboring frequencies.

The group said the the radio station was prohibited from broadcasting by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology despite its having complied with all the technical requirements.

See the full story at the RSF website here.