The ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship stands in solidarity with the human rights defenders Fatia Maulidiyanti, Coordinator of the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), and Haris Azhar, Executive Director of Lokataru, and calls for the immediate action to ensure Indonesian authorities do not abuse Indonesia’s criminal defamation and cyber laws to harass and silence these human rights defenders.
“We denounce the government’s digital dictatorship and failure to comply with its international human rights obligations. We are concerned that Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Panjaitan’s threats to silence human rights defenders, by weaponizing the defamation offenses in the Indonesian Criminal Code and the Electronic Information and Transaction Law, are a form of judicial harassment and abuse of power. These human rights defenders’ right to freedom of expression are guaranteed not only under international human rights law, but also under Law No. 39/1999 (Article 23(1) and 25)² and the Indonesian Constitution (Article 28E)³, both of which stipulate that: every person shall be free to express his or her opinions in public. Article 28E (3) of the Constitution also protects the rights to seek, receive and impart information and ideas, orally and in writing, through printed and electronic media.”