Free Billy Nessen

BILLY NESSEN, a freelance writer who lived for many years in Berkeley and who has made something of a career out of reporting from international trouble spots, is sitting in an Indonesian jail in Aceh, facing potential charges that could leave him behind bars for the rest of his life. Nessen's crime: he spent some time with the rebels who are fighting a guerrilla war against the Indonesian government. As Cervando David Martinez reports on page 12, Nessen was doing what good journalists are supposed to do: he went where he had to go to get the real story. Martinez, who has worked with Nessen on documentary film projects, suspects the Indonesian military wants to send journalists around the world a message that telling the truth about what's happening in its country is a very bad idea.

Nessen is hardly the only journalist jailed (or killed) recently: as Bruce Brugmann notes on page 4, the Inter-American Press Association reports that 272 journalists have been murdered in North and South America alone since 1998. And that's probably a low number – not every death gets reported to watchdog groups. (Indonesian journalists, for example, die mysteriously or disappear on a regular basis.) Groups like IAPA and the Committee to Protect Journalists fight an endless and often frustrating battle for press freedom.

In many cases, the key is public pressure – and that, activists say, is what's likely to save Nessen. Here are the key pressure points; call or fax today.

U.S. ambassador to Indonesia Ralph Boyce fax 011-6221-386-2259.

Indonesian embassy (202) 775-5200, fax (202) 775-5365.

Indonesian ambassador to the United States Soemadi D.M. Brotodiningrat e-mail karta@embassyofindonesia.org.