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Local activist criminalized for uploading alleged bribery video
Jakarta Post - October 5, 2015
North Maluku Police chief Brig. Gen. Zulkarnain said that although the police had released the suspect, identified as Adlun Fiqri, a student at Ternate-based Khairun University (Unkhair) in Ternate, the legal process regarding the case was ongoing.
"After I watched [the video], I saw that it [Adlun's act] was improper conduct. There was no bribery. The police officer just ticketed [the motorist]," Zulkarnain said over the weekend as quoted by Antara news agency.
Last week, the Ternate Police arrested Adlun for allegedly violating Article 27, point 3, of the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law on online defamation, which carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison, after he uploaded a video showing a Ternate traffic police officer accepting Rp 115,000 (US$7.80) from a motorcyclist who was not wearing a helmet.
The 30-minute video, uploaded on Sept. 26, defamed both the officer and the police force, according to Ternate Police crime investigators. Adlun also reportedly removed the video from YouTube at the police's request.
Adlun's arrest quickly sparked public anger after activists and netizens jointly launched an online campaign to demand his release.
Adlun, who is also a member of the North Maluku branch of the Alliance of Indigenous Peoples (AMAN), was finally released on Saturday morning from police custody.
Zulkarnain, however, insisted that the traffic police officer, who has filed a police report against Adlun, had followed standard operational procedure by accepting payment of the fine from the traffic violator before handing it over to the court.
Traffic violators, according to Zulkarnain, can pay a fine through Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) or can hand it over to traffic police officers under certain circumstances.
"[Traffic violators] can ask [an on-duty officer] to keep the fine if they don't live in the region or have activities that would leave them unable to go to court," he said.
The dean of Unkhair's School of Law, Syawal Abdul Ajid, however, strongly questioned Zulkarnain's argument. Syawal said there was no article in the 2009 Traffic Law stipulating that on-duty police officers may personally accept fines paid by traffic violators.
"The law says that [fines] must be paid directly to court," he said. Adlun's lawyer, Maharani Carolina, meanwhile, said that the video was authentic. "The video was not doctored," she said.
Speaking to The Jakarta Post on Sunday, AMAN North Maluku branch head Munadi Kilkoda, who visited Adlun in police custody before his release, claimed that Adlun had been subjected to violence during interrogation.
"Adlun said he had been kicked in the hip, punched in the arms and in the back of the head," he said.
Munadi has also called on North Maluku Police chief to ask the traffic police officer in the dispute to withdraw his police report and instruct the Ternate Police to close the case.
"Instead of prosecuting those who reveal alleged police misconduct to the public, it would be fairer if the police investigated the misconduct to avoid public anger," he said.
Rights groups have repeatedly called on the government to amend the ITE Law, arguing that it could easily be used by authorities to infringe on people's right to free speech.
The Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), for example, reported that 37 people had been charged under the law between 2008 and 2013, including Prita Mulyasari, who was sued by Omni International Hospital in 2009 for defamation after she complained about the hospital's service in an online mailing list.
Most of the victims were charged under Article 27 of the law, the wording of which is considered to be open to interpretation.
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