Officially, Indonesia is a secular democracy, but in practice the world’s largest Muslim nation continues to find itself growing more and more conservative while also growing more and more Westernized.  There is no case that illustrates the divide between the conservative Muslim elements and the young, hip elements like the case of Nazril Irham.  Nazril Irham, AKA the Indonesian pop star Ariel from the boy band Peterpan, is the star of a pair of homemade sex tapes that were leaked onto the Internet.  Ariel received three-and-a-half years in jail and a 250 million rupiah ($27,692) fine after his homemade porn videos were leaked onto the internet.

This is one of those rare cases in which judge Singgih Budi Prakoso couldn’t make either side happy.  Pro-freedom Indonesian youth believe Ariel should have had the charges dismissed against him.  Pro-censorship activists believe that Ariel should have gotten the full force of the charges, which are 12 years in jail and a six billion rupiah ($665,900) fine.  It took 1000 police officers to keep order outside of the courtroom, where pro and anti forces clashed and teenage fans of Ariel’s band Peterpan wore shirts emblazoned with the word “freedom.”

Ariel was jailed under a 2008 anti-pornography law designed to ban public nudity and behaviour that could incite lust.

Tags: censorship, Indonesia, Singgih Budi Prakoso, Jakarta, Java, Ariel, Peterpan, Nazril “Ariel” Irham, Ariel, Indonesian pop star gets three years in jail over sex tapes, pop star jailed over sex tapes, controversies, Islam, unusual crimes, pop star jailed over stolen videos, homemade erotic videos get pop star jailed, unusual laws, anti-pornography law, Nazril Irham

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