Former Playboy editor sent to prison in Indonesia for public indecency

[News_Editor]

Former Playboy editor sent to prison in Indonesia for public indecency

2010-10-10 13:59:39 GMT+7 (ICT)

JAKARTA, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- The former chief editor of the now-defunct Indonesian edition of Playboy has been sent to jail for public indecency, officials said.

Police had issued an arrest warrant earlier this week after the former chief editor, Erwin Arnada, had failed to show up in court. Search teams were dispatched to suspected hiding spots in Denpasar, Bali, Bogor, South Jakarta and Soekarno Hatta Airport, but without results. On Saturday however, Arnada turned himself in to police.

Playboy Indonesia was launched in 2006 and immediately caused a public stir around the country as several Islamic groups protested, describing the magazine as a symbol of moral decadence.

In 2007, Arnada was cleared of all charges after a district judge considered the photographs of Playboy not to be pornographic, but a July 2009 prosecutor's appeal was passed and Arnada was sentenced to two years in prison for public indecency. A Supreme Court upheld that ruling.

Todung Mulya Lubis, Arnada's attorney, said he was disappointed with the way prosecutors and police had treated his client. "Why should they treat my client like a terrorist?" he said, according to the Jakarta Post.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2010-10-10