Protect Indonesia press freedom, urge activists

Activists have called for press freedom to be protected in Indonesia and demanded an investigation after a magazine critical of the government was sent a animal's head and decapitated rats.

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Weekly magazine Tempo, a top Indonesian publication since the 1970s, has been critical of the policies of President Prabowo Subianto, an ex-general whom rights groups accuse of abuses under late dictator Suharto.

Cleaners at Tempo's office found a box of six rats with their heads cut off on Saturday, the magazine said in a statement.

Another head without its ears was also found there on Thursday intended for delivery to a reporter.

“This is a dangerous and deliberate act of intimidation,” Beh Lih Yi, head of the Asia program at the Committee to Protect Journalists, said late on Saturday.