Attacks on the Press in 2010 - Committee to Protect Journalists

<strong>Attacks</strong> on the Press in 2010The case has galvanized a variety of forces to pressure the Gambiangovernment. In March 2010, U.S. Sen. Richard J. Durbin and fourother senators sent a letter to Kamalesh Sharma, secretary-general ofthe Commonwealth of Nations, urging him to investigate Manneh’scase. In 2009, the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Working Group onArbitrary Detentions called for Manneh’s release.Indonesia: 1imprisoned: october 9, 2010Erwin Arnada, Playboy IndonesiaArnada, editor of the now-defunct Playboy Indonesia, surrenderedto authorities at Cipinang Prison in East Jakarta to begin a two-yearsentence on charges of public indecency. The Supreme Court, reversingtwo lower-court acquittals, convicted Arnada on indecencycharges related to material published in a 2006 issue of the magazine.Although the Supreme Court’s ruling was dated 2009, it was not publiclydisclosed until August 2009.Soon after opening, the magazine came under fire from the hard-lineIslamic Defenders Front, or FPI. After militants sought to vandalizethe magazine’s Jakarta office, Playboy Indonesia moved to the islandof Bali. But political pressure eventually led to Arnada’s arrest in 2007and to the closing of the magazine after just 10 issues.By numerous accounts, the magazine was considered no more provocativethan numerous other publications available in Indonesia. FPIleader Ahmad Shobri Lubis acknowledged to The New York Timesthat Playboy Indonesia’s photographs were less revealing than thoseprinted in many Indonesian publications.Defense lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said an appeal was being pursued.He said Arnada was being held in the general population atCipinang, a high-security facility that has often been used to holdpolitical activists and accused terrorists.Iran: 34imprisoned: january 25, 2007Adnan Hassanpour, Aso376