Pop star Nazril 'Ariel' Irham jailed over sex tapes
- From: AP
- January 31, 2011
Indonesian pop singer Nazril Irham, better known as Ariel, and his girlfriend top model and actress Luna Maya confront reporters in Jakarta during his court case. Source: AP
JUDGES say an Indonesian pop star who rocked the nation after making several homemade sex tapes will spend the next three-and-a-half years in jail.
Nazril "Ariel" Irham, lead singer of the band Peterpan, was found guilty of violating the country's strict anti-pornography law.
Presiding Judge Singgih Budi Prakoso told the court the star made the videos with two celebrity girlfriends and did nothing to prevent their wide distribution on the internet.
The judge said Ariel also showed no remorse.
In addition to jail time, Ariel was fined $US25,000 ($25,300).
The sentence drew howls of outrage from singer Nazril Ariel's fans in the court and across the Malay-speaking world, while the "freeariel" hashtag shot to the top list of global trending topics on microblogging site Twitter.
