Eight officers of the district court of Ambon, Moluccas in Indonesia attacked Juhry Samanery, correspondent of SCTV, on 7 May 2010. Juhry’s face and right hand sustained injuries.

The incident happened right after journalists in Ambon covered a court session. The judge had not allowed a reporter of “Koran Siwalim”, Lotje Patipawae, from taking pictures of the session. As Indonesia law allows journalists to take pictures or report live inside a courtroom during sessions, the reporters asked the judge after the session his reasons for the prohibition.

Seeing journalists were debating with the judge, some court officers started to get irritated. It was at this point that an unintentional body contact happened between Juhry and an officer. Suddenly, the officer attacked Juhry. The journalist tried to run away from the officer but he and seven others chased and caught up with Juhry in the court’s yard, where they proceeded to physically attack him. Other journalists tried to stop the officers, but some of the officers also hit them. Cooler heads intervened and stopped the two groups from fighting.

Moluccas Media Center, an NGO that advocates press freedom in the region, protested the actions of the court officers. “Their act was against the Press Law and is subject to a year’s imprisonment ,” Insany Syahbarwaty of MMC said.

Moluccas-based journalists likewise demanded that the police investigate the attack.