Miftachul Choir
Miftachul Choir is a human rights defender and a short-term contract member of the Political Corruption Division of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW). His research focuses on political-economy of the coal mining industry, the party financing regime and the electoral system. Prior to joining ICW, Miftahul Choir was involved with the student press and various student movement groups. Currently, he is a postgraduate student at the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies (IHRP), Mahidol University.
Since Indonesia’s transition to democracy, the role of human rights defenders has been of particular importance. The country’s record of its treatment of human rights defenders has been floundering, including ongoing surveillance and harassment, restrictions on the freedom of expression and freedom of religion, gender- specific violations against woman HRDs, judicial harassment including criminal defamation suits, stigmatisation, arbitrary arrest, ill-treatment, torture, forced disappearances and killings. Impunity in cases of murders of HRDs and grave human rights violations continue to thrive.
