Yuli Krisna – Pop star Nazril "Ariel" Irham was briefly trapped inside the Bandung District Court on Thursday by Muslim protesters demanding he receive a harsh punishment over a sex-tape scandal.
What started out as a celebrity sex scandal has turned into a closely watched legal case as the lead singer of the band Peterpan is tried on charges that he distributed pornographic material.
On Thursday, hundreds of protesters blocked the police convoy transporting Ariel from the courthouse to his prison cell. Members of the Islamic Movement Alliance (API), mostly women, crowded in front of the east gate of the courthouse where the convoy was expected to leave from.
The protesters became involved in a brief skirmish with the police when they attempted to approach the car carrying Ariel. About 200 other API members gathered at the front of the courthouse, shouting "block all the gates. Don't let Ariel leave."
Prosecutors hustled the singer back into the building to prevent the situation from deteriorating. The protesters continued their rally, calling on Ariel to repent and make a public apology to his family, the public and the Islamic community.
Police were forced to divert traffic near the courthouse as the group held a mass prayer that spilled out into the street.
Muslim hard-liners have targeted Ariel since videos allegedly showing the singer having sex separately with presenters Cut Tari and Luna Maya turned up on the Internet.
After waiting more than two hours for the crowd to disperse, prosecutors and police escorted the singer back to the Kebon Waru detention center around noon.
Ariel told reporters before leaving the courthouse that he was not disturbed by the protest. "I trust the police guarding the area," he said.
According to a Bandung Police spokeswoman, Comr. Endang Sriwahyu Utami, the police had anticipated the protest.
"Ariel was transported safely back to jail, as we can all see," she said, adding that there were 500 officers on guard and a water cannon on standby at the court.
Inside the court, judges heard the response of Ariel's defense team to the prosecution's sentence demand of five years in jail.
"The prosecution's sentence demand was baseless as there is no proof that Ariel was involved in distributing pornographic videos," Ariel's lawyer, Afrian Bondjol, told reporters after the closed-door hearing.
The singer has been charged under the 2008 Anti-Pornography Law, the 2008 Information and Electronic Transaction Law (ITE) and Article 56 of the Criminal Code.
He could face up to 12 years in jail and Rp 6 billion ($670,000) in fines if convicted. The judges will deliver their verdict on Monday.