The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a ban on news magazine Tempo , overturning two earlier court decisions.
The court ruled that Information Minister Harmoko acted legally in June 1994 when he effectively shut down Tempo and two other magazines by revoking their publication licences.
The chief justice of Indonesia's highest court, Surdjono, rejected arguments by Tempo lawyers that Mr Harmoko had violated the nation's 1984 press law, which forbids the banning of publications.
After the hearing, hundreds of supporters and journalists surrounded the former editor-in-chief of Tempo, Gunawan Mohamad, as security officers escorted him from the court building.
Mr Gunawan later told the South China Morning Post that the only way to future press freedom and greater human rights was through political efforts.
'All the legal ways have ended now, so it's got to be through a political struggle,' he said.