From a report in today’s Times about “Pop star given 3½ years after millions view net porn”:
Teenage pop fans and Islamic conservatives confronted one another outside a courtroom yesterday as Indonesia’s most popular young singer was jailed after his home-made sex tapes were posted on the internet.
Nazril Irham, 29, known to his fans as Ariel, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and fined 250 million rupiah (£17,400), after the videos, featuring two of the country’s most famous female celebrities, mysteriously found their way online last summer.
Meanwhile, members of Islamic groups who supported the singer’s prosecution expressed anger at what they regarded as a lenient sentence, far short of the maximum 12-year term allowable under Indonesia’s controversial anti-pornography laws.
Rianto Ind, of the Movement for Hanging Adulterers, said: “His crime is not just about having sex, he is a moral destroyer. He should be given a life sentence so that it will prevent others from doing the same.”
But Dwi Agustiani, a 19-year-old woman, said: “All I could do was cry. I love him so much and I just want to hear him sing again in public but he can’t.”
Sorry, is this some kind of wind up? Is there really an official organisation in Indonesia called “the Movement for Hanging Adulterers”? With an office, and a telephone number a journalist can call for a quote? And are they against all adulterers, or just the ex-wife?
Trouble is, with a name like that, you probably don’t get invited to many conferences or committees. “No point inviting old Rianto” you can see the Indonesian lawmakers agreeing, “we know where he’ll stand on the new divorce law”.
I tried to find out some more about this organisation – can you imagine the after-dinner conversation at the smoking room at the club? – but the best I could find was another quote from them, this time from the more moderate wing: “Adulterers should be stoned to death,” declared Abdul Qohar Al-Qadsi. (The Hong Kong standard).
Wonder what Spain’s Equality Ministry thinks of it all?