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Indonesian women’s rights activists defend singer caught in grip of anti-pornography law
- Gisella Anastasia has been charged for a 19-second video shared online after it was taken from a mobile phone she had lost
- Women’s rights activists and legal experts have condemned the charges, pointing out that Gisella is a victim and should be protected by the state
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In Indonesia, making adult content for personal use could land you in jail. Just ask singer Gisella Anastasia, who has been named a suspect under the country’s draconian anti-pornography law after an intimate video she made in 2017 recently went viral – after being taken from a mobile phone she had lost.
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The 19-second video of Gisella and a man, who was later identified as Michael Yukinobu Defretes, was shared widely on Twitter on November 6.
Two days later, lawyer Pitra Romadoni Nasution reported the video to Jakarta police, asking them to investigate the content “to stop the distribution of porn on social media that has been viewed by millions of Indonesians”.
The police have accused two men of distributing the video online and have charged them for violating the information and electronic transaction law and anti-pornography law.
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Gisella, the ex-wife of popular television personality Gading Marten, was also summoned twice for questioning and eventually named as a suspect on Tuesday along with Defretes. They have been charged under the anti-pornography law’s controversial Articles 4 and 8 and face punishment of up to 12 years in prison.
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