The Constitutioal Court agrees to some points of the judicial review demanded by two human rights activists, Haris Azhar and Fatia Maulidiyanti regarding libel, on Thursday (21/3). The he head of the Constitutional Court, Suhartoyo and eight members of the Constitutional Court sign the decision and officially upload it on Thursday (21/3).

“The Constitutional Court allows some of the main application point – One – submitted by Haris and Fatia,” which refers to Decision No. 78/PUU-XXI/2023. A Constitutional Court Judge, Arsul Sani reads the legal deliberation regarding the element of “false news” and “unverified or excessive information” as contained in Article 14 and Article 14 of the Criminal Law may trigger a “flexible article of law” that leads to uncertainty in law. The Indonesian Language Dictionary refers to “Flecible Article of Law as laws that has no clear basis. In an age of information technology, it is easy for people to access information technology network. People can get information easily and wuickly without realizing whether the information they get is valid or not. “This means that information may spread rapidly in the community and may lead to legal sanctions to perpetrators, based on Articles 14 and 15 of Law No. 1 Year 1946.” Says Arsul, as quoted in the Constitutional Court webpage. Arsul also encourages people to look closely at the parameter that indicate danger – whether the ambiguity can be interpreted as chaos that put the State in danger.

Earlier, Haris, Fatia and friends make a submission re. libel with regards to the Criminal Law and the Information and Technology Law to the Constitutional Court. In their application, Haris and friends state that Articles 14 and 15 of the Criminal Law, Article 310 point (1) of the Criminal Law, and Article 27 point (3) in conjunction with Article 45 point (3) of the Information technology Law are not consistent with a number of articles.

Haris and Fatia had faced a court proceeding for libel case with the Welfare Minister, Marves Luhut Binsat Pandjaitan. Then, the court free Haris and Fatia of unproven charges presented by the prosecutor, based on Article 27 point 3 in conjunction with Article 45 point 3 of the Information Technology and Electronic Transaction Law, Article 14 point 2 on conjunction with Article 15 of Law No. 1 Year 1946, and Article 310 of the Criminal Law. Each of the Article is connected to Article 55 point 1 of the Criminal Law. This time, the judges also stipulates that the dignity and name of the defendants be restored. The prosecutor, for its part, submit an appeal. (Ast)