An Indonesian court has sentenced an environmental activist to seven months in jail for a Facebook post in which he criticized the growing problem of illegal shrimp farms operating inside a marine park.
JAKARTA — An Indonesian court has sentenced environmental activist Daniel Frits Maurits Tangkilisan to seven months in prison for his online criticism of illegal shrimp farms inside a marine national park off Java Island. Indonesian environment ministry officials inspect an illegal shrimp farm in Karimunjawa National Park. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
Daniel’s case is the most advanced of the ongoing reports. He was charged in June 2023 for his criticism posted on Facebook the previous year and was arrested on Dec. 7, 2023, but granted him conditional release the following day. Three of Daniel’s allies in the #SaveKarimunjawa campaign — Hasanuddin, Datang Abdul Rohim and Sumarto Rofi’un — were reported in November 2023 to the local police for posting a video of their opposition to the illegal shrimp farms.
Most of the islands in the Karimunjawa archipelago are included inside the borders of Karimunjawa National Park, which was designated a marine reserve in 2001 and now covers an area of 1,100 square kilometers . A combination of zoning regulations allows artisanal fishing in certain zones, as well as tourism and research.