This archive report was first published on 4 November 2019.
On November 6, 2019, the bodies of two Indonesian journalists were discovered in a ditch near a palm plantation in Labuhan Batu district, North Sumatra province.
Maraden Sianipar and Maratua Siregar, who had recently become known for their activism in land dispute issues, were found with multiple stab wounds.
According to local police chief Agus Darojat, six people have been questioned in connection with the deaths, but no suspect has been named.
The pair worked together for a local news portal before going freelance in 2017 and had been working on a campaign to convince the government to allow locals to work on disputed land.
Indonesian journalist associations have condemned the deaths and demanded a thorough investigation.
Many cases of violence against journalists in Indonesia go unsolved, with at least two dozen cases reported this year alone, according to the Independent Journalists Alliance.
Indonesia ranks 124th out of 180 countries on the 2019 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders.
