Jakarta (Agencies) – The Central Jakarta District Court on Monday jailed a Muslim youth activist for five months for insulting President Megawati Sukarnoputri during a protest in January.

Iqbal Siregar, 36, defaced Megawati's portrait with black tape and allowed it to be run over by a car and a motorcycle outside the presidential palace during a January 15 protest by several groups opposed to the president. At the top of the picture was the caption, "People's Fugitive." The sentence is lighter than the 10-month jail term sought by public prosecutor, Arnold Angkouw.

During the rally, he waved the picture and showed it to passers-by, saying, "This is the president who disappoints the people." He then threw the president's picture to the street, to be run over by a car driven by Nazaruddin and a motorcycle ridden by Badrul Munir.

Siregar, who chairs the Islamic Youth Movement (GPI), which took part in the protest, has been in custody since his arrest on January 23. The judge said this period should be deducted from his jail sentence.

He was the latest of several demonstrators jailed for defacing the president's portrait. Several students are awaiting trial.

Insulting the president or vice president is a criminal offence, but until last year there had been no prosecutions since the fall of longtime dictator Suharto in May 1998. Rights activists have criticized the government for reverting to the laws.

In October last year two protesters were jailed for a year in Jakarta for defacing a portrait of Megawati. In January a female activist in Aceh province was sentenced to six months in prison for drawing a cross over pictures of Megawati and Vice President Hamzah Haz.

A newspaper editor is currently on trial for insulting the president in front-page headlines, one of which described her as crueller than a cannibal.