JAKARTA (Australian Associated Press / Pacific Media Watch / WikiLeaks): Award-winning US journalist Allan Nairn has temporarily escaped a five-year jail sentence in an Indonesian prison after the Indonesian police announced that they were unable to find him.
Nairn was charged almost two months ago after he published parts of a conversation he had held, off-the-record, with Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto.
Prabowo, a former general in the Indonesian army at the time it carried out human rights abuses in East Timor, is the son in law of deceased former Indonesian dictator Suharto.
The conversation between Prabowo and Nairn, which centred on human rights abuses committed by Prabowo in East Timor, happened 13 years ago but Nairn only published extracts this year after becoming concerned about Prabowo standing in the presidential elections.
Prabowo, who has since lost the election, laid charges of "dangerous provocation" against Nairn two months ago after the interview was published, claiming that Nairn was "inciting hatred" against him.
If convicted, Nairn could have been sentenced to five years in prison.
Investigation still open
Although the police have been unable to locate Nairn, Indonesian National Police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar told the Australian Associated Press that the the investigation was still open.
"In July, Nairn blogged that he was in Indonesia and challenged authorities to question him. He hasn't blogged since August 4 or tweeted since August 6," the Australian Associated Press reported.
Nairn is an award-winning journalist who reported on the brutal Indonesian military occupation of East Timor. He was badly beaten by Indonesian soldiers, along with Democracy Now producer Amy Goodman in East Timor in 1991 after they witnessed the Dili massacre, where more than 270 East Timorese were killed by the Indonesian army in the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili.
Nairn later helped found the East Timor Action Network (ETAN) which campaigned for independence for the country.
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Pacific Media Watch
