Jakarta – Four defendants who are being tried in Jakarta on charges of allegedly inciting the August 2025 demonstrations plan to go on a hunger strike until the entire trial process concludes.
Lokataru Foundation Director Delpedro Marhaen, who is one of the defendants, said the action is a form of protest against the panel of judges who have not responded to their request for a suspension of detention.
"The four of us have also agreed, that as a political stance and then starting early next year, we will go on a hunger strike until our trial concludes, as a form of protest against the judge's decision not to suspend our sentence", Marhaen said after a hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court on Monday December 29.
Initially, Marhaen declared his disappointment with the slow response to appeals for the suspension of his and three other defendants' cases. He stated that their requests for a suspension of detention have been pending since they were in police custody, the custody of the prosecutors' office and now as they are undergoing trial.
Marhaen said the letter requesting a suspension of detention has remained unanswered, leaving them languishing in their cells for the past five months.
"I'm sorry, we can't celebrate New Year's in the same room. We'll probably celebrate Christmas in prison. Because our letter requesting suspension hasn't been received or hasn't been answered", said Marhaen.
"Yet we've already submitted [the request] since we were at Polda [regional police], then at the Kejaksaan [prosecutor's office], and even to the court level, we also haven't received a response", he added.
Marhaen then questioned the legitimacy of the Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP) which regulates suspensions of detention. He explained that the length of the detention process is the same as serving an actual prison sentence.
"And so what's the point of the KUHAP regulating suspensions of detention if the defendant waits for a long time? The suspension is intended to facilitate the defendant's if they are detained, it can accelerate release or a detention transfer. But if the response drags on for a long time, it's the same as serving a prison sentence", he said.
Marhaen himself has now been in prison for five months. If he waits until the evidentiary hearing in March 2026, he and his colleagues will have spent a total of eight months in prison.
"We are ready to provide evidence. But that's not the problem. We've been in prison for five months", he said.
"And so if later at the presentation of evidence on March 3, we've already been in prison for eight months, and so we haven't been proven guilty of any crime [yet], who will compensate for all this?", he continued.
Marhaen, the administrator of the @blokpolitikpelajar Instagram account, Muzaffar Salim as the administrator of the @gejayanmemanggil account, Syahdan Husein as the administrator of the @aliansimahasiswamenggugat account and student Khariq Anhar from the Student Challenge Alliance, have been charged with inciting the demonstration that ended in riots last August.
On Monday, the trial heard the public prosecutor's rebuttal of the four defendants' objections.
Following the hearing, Anhar read out a poem he wrote in his cell, inspired by Laras Faizati, another political prisoner who has also been indicted on charges of allegedly inciting the demonstration in August.
"Where Laras could be said to be a representative of our female colleagues who aren't present here today because of freedom of expression. My poem, which I wrote in prison, it's a rare thing we can write in prison. It's titled 'Laras'", said Anhar in giving an introduction before reading his poem.
Earlier on December 24, the public prosecutor demanded that Faizati be sentenced to one year in prison on charges of committing a crime related to incitement during the demonstrations that led to riots at the end of August, as stipulated under Article 161 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code (KUHP).
"Like a flower, Laras is a flower that grows in the yard of the nation's progress/She is a thorny rose, spreading fragrance while continuing to protect", read the first two stanzas of the poem read out by Anhar.
"For Laras!/For Laras!/Free Laras!/Free the Political Prisoners!", he concluded.
On Tuesday December 16, the public prosecutor read out the indictment against Marhaen and the three others.
"The defendants' actions in uploading electronic information in the form of Instagram social media content containing incitement sparked public unrest beginning on August 25, 2025, resulting in damage to public facilities, injuries to security personnel, damage to government offices, and a feeling of insecurity among the wider public", said the public prosecutor at the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday.
In addition to , the prosecutor said that the police discovered 80 collaborative posts of incitement-based content intended to incite hatred against the government on Instagram, which was distributed by the four defendants over the period August 24-29.
In the first charge the defendants have been accused of violating Article 28 paragraph 2 in conjunction with Article 45A paragraph 2 of Law Number 1/2024 on Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE Law) in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) point 1 of the KUHP.
Or the second charge of violating Article 28 paragraph 3 in conjunction with Article 45A of the ITE Law in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) point 1 of the KUHP, or the third charge, violating Article 160 of the KUHP in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) point 1.
Or the fourth charge of violating Article 76H in conjunction with Article 15 in conjunction with Article 87 of Law Number 35/2014 on Child Protection in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph 1 point 1 of the KUHP. (fam/kid)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Delpedro dkk Ancam Mogok Makan".]
Source: https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20251230072407-12-1311757/delpedro-dkk-ancam-mogok-makan
