An international press freedom watchdog has registered its concern about the continued detention of two British journalists in Indonesia.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has raised the case of Neil Bonner and Rebecca Prosser, who are facing a jail term for making a documentary about piracy.
They were arrested by the Indonesian navy on 28 May in the island of Batam and alleged to have worked while holding only tourist visas, as the Guardian reported last month.
At a hearing on Thursday, AFP reports that the prosecutor called for the pair to be sentenced to five months in prison plus a fine of 50m rupiah (£2,400). The maximum jail term for the offence is five years.
Bonner and Prosser were shooting a film for the London-based production house Wall to Wall with funding from National Geographic TV.
Despite the Indonesian government’s promise to ease visa restrictions on foreign media soon after President Joko Widodo assumed office in October 2014, international journalists are still required to apply for a special visa which can take weeks to be issued and can be denied.
In previous cases documented by CPJ, foreign journalists detained without a press visa have been deported rather than jailed.
Its Asia programme coordinator, Bob Dietz, said: “Indonesia has a history of using visa restrictions to obstruct journalists who seek to cover stories of international importance within its borders.”
Bonner and Prosser are due back in court on Monday (26 October).
Sources: CPJ/AFP/The Guardian
