Sex - Tape Scandal : Ariel `PeterPan' Gets Jail Time .

 

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An Indonesian court on Monday jailed one of Southeast Asia's biggest rock stars for more than three years after sex tapes of him with two television celebrities appeared online.

The sentence drew howls of outrage from singer Nazril Ariel's fans in the court and across the Malay-speaking world, while the "freeariel" hashtag shot to the top list of trending topics on microblogging site Twitter.

The 29-year-old frontman of rock band Peterpan was sentenced to three and a half years in jail for "giving an opportunity for others to spread, produce and prepare a pornographic video", the judges said in their verdict.

Islamist hardliners pelted the police van with rotten eggs and tomatoes as he was escorted to the court, while fans of the husky-voiced heart-throb sang his song "Sahabat" (Friend) and chanted "Free Ariel".

Stick-wielding Islamists later beat people on the street outside the court as tempers flared and police struggled to control the two sides.

Wearing a dark green sweater over a white pinstriped shirt, Ariel looked calm as the sentence was handed down.

He told reporters who mobbed him as he was being led back into custody that he would consider an appeal. "I'll think about it," he said.

His fans in court, mostly young women, let out a collective cry of despair as chief Judge Singgih Budi Prakoso condemned him to jail.

"I'll miss him terribly because now I won't be able to see him on television. This is too severe because he didn't spread the videos. He should be set free," said sobbing 20-year-old student Yossi.

Muslim protesters also complained that the sentence was too light for a man they see as a threat to the moral fabric of the nation of 240 million people, 80 percent of whom are Muslims.

"Muslims are very disappointed with the sentence. According to sharia law adulterers should be stoned to death," said Abdul Qohar Al-Qadsi, an Islamist from hardline vigilante group the Islamic Defenders Front.

The two videos, apparently filmed on a mobile phone, showed Ariel having sex on separate occasions with female television celebrities Luna Maya and Cut Tari, who is married to another man.

Maya was seen chatting to Ariel in his holding cell before the sentence was handed down.

The clips spread virally through Indonesian and Malaysian websites but Ariel has always denied distributing them, saying a studio engineer accessed his personal files from his laptop and uploaded them without his permission.

He surrendered to police on June 22 last year amid a national scandal over the X-rated videos. At one point police raided high school class rooms to search students' smartphones for signs of the illicit clips.

Dubbed "Peterporn" after Ariel's pop band, the scandal pushed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to warn that the archipelago was at risk of being "crushed by the information technology frenzy".

It strengthened calls for stricter monitoring and censorship of web usage, which has taken off among Indonesia's upwardly mobile urban youth.

Research In Motion, the Canadian company that makes BlackBerry smartphones, started blocking access to pornographic websitesin Indonesia earlier in January in line with a communications ministry deadline.

Ariel was tried under an anti-pornography law passed by parliament in 2008 despite strong objections from minority groups and civil society organisations, who say the legislation tramples on freedom of expression. Source : By Irwan Firdaus,  Associated Press

Flotilla interception was legal - Isreali Inquiry

An Israeli inquiry commission defended the actions of the country's troops during last year's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound protest flotilla sailing from Turkey, finding in a report released Sunday that Israel had not violated international law.

 

While offering some criticism of the way the takeover was planned, the commission's conclusions exonerated the government, the military and individual soldiers.

The findings were unlikely to put to rest the international controversy over Israel's actions, which badly damaged its relations with Turkey and led to the formation of a U.N. investigation. Turkey's  prime minister dismissed the report hours after its release.

Israeli naval commandos killed nine activists aboard the Turkish protest ship Mavi Marmara on May 31 after passengers violently resisted the takeover of the vessel in international waters. The condemnation that followed the bloodshed forced Israel to ease the blockade on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

The nearly 300-page report released Sunday by the government-appointed commission said the blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza, the decision to intercept the protest flotilla in international waters and the soldiers' use of lethal force were legal.

"The actions carried out by Israel on May 31, 2010, to enforce the naval blockade had the regrettable consequences of the loss of human life and physical injuries," read the report. Nonetheless, "the actions taken were found to be legal pursuant to the rules of international law."

The commission, headed by a retired Supreme Court justice, included four Israeli members and two international observers — David Trimble, a Nobel peace laureate from Northern Ireland, and Brig. Gen. Ken Watkin, Canada's former chief military prosecutor. All signed off on the conclusions.

A fifth Israeli participant, 93-year-old international law expert Shabtai Rosenne, passed away during the deliberations. Two other international experts, one German and one American, advised the commission.

Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel after the incident and ties between the countries have not recovered. Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, promptly dismissed the conclusions of the Israeli inquiry.

"To my judgment there is no value or credibility to this report," he told reporters in Ankara on Sunday. Haneen Zoabi, an Arab member of Israel's parliament who was on board the Marmara, called the commission "a broad and open platform for Israeli propaganda."

The Gaza flotilla was dominated by an Islamic aid group from Turkey known by the acronym IHH. The group has ties to Turkey's Islamic-rooted government and was banned by Israel in 2008 because of alleged ties to Hamas.

The flotilla aimed to bring attention to the Israeli  blockade of Gaza , imposed after Hamas militants captured an Israeli soldier in 2006 and tightened after Hamas seized control of the territory the following year.

Soldiers were sent to commandeer the ships before dawn on May 31 after the flotilla ignored radio warnings to turn back and refused an offer to dock at an Israeli port and transfer humanitarian aid into Gaza overland. One of the ships radioed to the Israelis to "go back to Auschwitz," according to a military recording cited in the report.

Five small ships were commandeered without incident, but soldiers rappelling from helicopters onto the deck of the Marmara, with some 600 passengers on board, were mobbed by several dozen activists armed with bars, slingshots and knives as they landed on deck one by one, according to video footage released by the military.

The Israelis, who seemed not to have expected violent resistance, were beaten and some were thrown onto a lower deck. According to Sunday's report, two of the soldiers were shot, apparently with weapons wrested from the Israelis themselves. Both soldiers and activists have said they acted in self-defense.

The commission faulted the military planners for not taking into account the possibility of serious violence, saying "the soldiers were placed in a situation they were not completely prepared for and had not anticipated." Previous protest flotillas had surrendered without violence.

However, looking at 133 individual cases in which soldiers used force — 16 of them involving shooting to kill — the commission found soldiers had acted properly and that their lives had been in danger. The soldiers, the report said, "acted professionally in the face of extensive and unanticipated violence."

The commission said its report was based on the testimony of Israeli officials — including the prime minister and defense minister — and military officers, as well as testimony from the soldiers themselves and 1,000 hours of video footage taken from the military, the Marmara and its passengers. 

The commission said activists on board the ship refused invitations to testify.

Alan Baker, a former legal adviser to Israel's Foreign Ministry, said the committee's makeup should boost its credibility among Israel's allies and predicted the U.N.'s investigate commission would take it seriously. 

"Whether this will persuade Turkey is doubtful. Whether this will persuade the Arab countries is very doubtful. I think the serious countries will take it very seriously because of the people who were involved and because of the international observers," he said. 

"I doubt very much whether it will make an impression on those elements of the international community who are pushing the anti-Israel hostility," he said. 

Gisha, an Israeli advocacy group that opposes the blockade, criticized the inquiry's conclusion that the Israeli blockade did not constitute collective punishment of the civilian population. The blockade, meant to weaken Hamas, caused widespread damage to the economy while only strengthening the militants' grip on power. 

"We don't understand how restricting the entrance of coriander, paper and industrial margarine into Gaza advances a legitimate military objective," said  Sari Bashi the group's director.

In the wake of heavy international criticism, Israel lifted virtually all restrictions on foods and consumer goods entering Gaza. But restrictions on exports, and the import of badly needed construction goods, remain in place.  Source : 

P/s : The ship Mavi Marmara become a Movie Set ?

Russian plane explosion - Three Killed

 At least three passengers were killed and over 40 injured when a Russian jet carrying 134 people exploded shortly after making an emergency landing at a Siberian airport. 

The accident took place on Saturday when the Russian Tu-154M (Tupolev) passenger jet of Kogalymavia Airlines, which was to land at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, made an emergency landing at the Surgut Airport due to an engine flaming out shortly after take-off. The landing was followed by an explosion. 

A spokesman for the Federal Transport Agency, Rosaviatsia, said there were 134 people on board the plane, including 116 passengers and 18 crewmembers.

According to the information posted on the airport's website, 43 people were injured and three others were missing. Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com Many more information CTV.CA