Indonesian Court Bans Government, Company from Defamation Complaints

LAW & COURT - JAKARTA. Indonesia's Constitutional Court has approved in part a petition brought by an environment campaigner, it said on Tuesday, opening the way for a legal change to bar the government or a company filing defamation complaints in the event of criticism.

Human rights activists have said the Electronic Information and Transaction Law is a threat to freedom of speech in the world's third-largest democracy and that the government has used it to criminalise its critics.