Indonesian court bans govt, company from defamation complaints

An environment activist had petitioned the Constitutional Court to revoke an Article in the law regulating defamation. - Reuters

JAKARTA: Indonesia's Constitutional Court has approved in part a petition brought by an environment campaigner, it said on Tuesday (April 29), 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.