Farouk Arnaz & Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors have thrown the book at pop star Nazriel Irham, charging him with a raft of controversial and obscure charges relating to two pornographic videos allegedly featuring himself and female celebrities Luna Maya and Cut Tari.

Any chance the Peterpan frontman, also known as Ariel, would be released on bail ahead of his trial have also been dashed.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Babul Khoir Harahap said Ariel had been charged with Article 29 of the 2008 Anti-Pornography Law, the 2008 Information and Electronic Transaction Law (ITE), Article 56 of the Criminal Code for "participating in a crime" and an obscure emergency law passed in 1951.

The confusing 1951 law states that if an act is considered a crime but cannot be shown to be a crime according to existing laws and the Criminal Code, then hukum adat (customary law) is applicable.

Under the ITE Law, those convicted of distributing pornography can be jailed for up to six years, while the Anti-Pornography Law, labeled as draconian by critics, carries jail terms of as much as 16 years.

Babul said Ariel would be indicted based on his role in distributing the two graphic pornographic movies, not his participation in the video clips, in which he allegedly films himself making love to Cut Tari, the former model and host of Indonesian gossip show "Insert," and current girlfriend Luna Maya, the former face of Lux soap and former presenter on a popular music show.

Cut Tari has also been charged under the 1951 law because the videos were allegedly filmed before the pornography legislation was enacted, while the case file of Luna, who once interviewed United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her show, remains unclear.

Supporters of the trio have previously argued that the trio were the victims of theft and should not be punished.

Ariel has been transferred from Jakarta Police headquarters to the Bandung Prosecutor's Office for trial in the capital of West Java province, where the alleged offenses occurred.

OC Kaligis, Ariel's lawyer, said he had sent a letter of protest to the AGO given the confusion surrounding the case. Ariel, however, was ready to face trial, he said.