If granted, Nuril, a West Nusa Tenggara woman sentenced to six months of imprisonment for defaming her alleged sexual abuser, will be the first nonpolitical convict to receive a pardon in the country's history.

House Deputy Speaker Agus Hermanto notified lawmakers of Jokowi’s letter at a plenary meeting on Tuesday morning, and the letter was discussed by the House’s consultative body in the afternoon. In the letter, which Jokowi sent to the House on Monday, the President asked for the House’s approval to grant Nuril clemency.

Article 14 of the 1945 Constitution states that the President must "take into account the House of Representatives' consideration" when granting a pardon.

“The punishment imposed on Baiq Nuril Maknun has elicited widespread sympathy and solidarity from the public, who feel that [her] conviction contradicts the public’s sense of justice,” Jokowi wrote in his letter.

“Given that no legal options remain that could be pursued through the judicial process, we request the willingness of the House of Representatives [to consider] the plan to pardon Baiq Nuril Maknun, as stipulated in Article 14 Clause 2 of the 1945 Constitution,” he continued.

A pardon, which removes all legal consequences from someone convicted of a crime, is only very loosely regulated in Indonesian law and mentioned only in Article 14.

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