“This is part of the history of the struggle for freedom of the press,’’ Arnada said as he left Cipinang prison in Jakarta yesterday afternoon wearing a T-shirt that said “Journalism is not a crime.’’
His lawyer, Heriyanto Yang, said a judicial review panel of the Supreme Court decided late last month to reverse the court’s earlier conviction. Bureaucratic delays in such decisions being announced are not uncommon in Indonesia.
When Playboy Indonesia hit newsstands in 2006, members of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front attacked its editorial offices and filed a criminal complaint against Arnada.
The trial, however, angered free speech activists, and Indonesia’s Press Council defended the magazine, saying it did not contain pornography or violate media laws.
Toned down for the local market, Playboy Indonesia had photos of women in undergarments, occasionally with partially exposed breasts. But the pictures were less risqué than some appearing in other magazines sold openly on street corners.
The New York-based Committee To Protect Journalists criticized Arnada’s imprisonment.
“The jailing of Erwin Arnada in a high-security prison was politically motivated and should never have happened,’’ the group said in a statement.
Arnada was previously acquitted by a district court in 2007, but the Supreme Court convicted him last year on an appeal from prosecutors. It ruled that Arnada had violated indecency provisions in the criminal code.
His lawyers then requested a judicial review as Arnada began his sentence.
