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Nuril finally gets amnesty after five-year struggle
“We know our struggle is not over yet as the elastic articles in the ITE Law have not yet been removed, people will still fall victim,” said UU ITE Victim Association chairman Muhammad Arsyad.
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Baiq Nuril Maknum (center) (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
B
aiq Nuril Maknun and her team of lawyers fell to the floor and kissed the ground in gratitude after hearing that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had agreed to grant her an amnesty in the defamation case that had loomed over her for five years.
“Bu Nuril is very happy and immediately kneeled in gratitude hearing this news,” Nuril’s lawyer, Joko Dumadi, said on Monday in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB). “Thank God, and thank you that the struggle of five years has finally given us an extraordinary result.”
Joko added that the President had invited Nuril to accept the amnesty decree in person at the State Palace, and she expected to hear from the President’s staff about when this would be possible.
Nuril, a 42-year old former high school teacher and mother of three, was convicted of defaming her alleged sexual harasser, the principal of the school where she worked, named Muslim. She was found guilty of circulating a recording of a phone call in 2012 in which Muslim related the sordid details of an affair he had had with another woman.
The Mataram district court acquitted Nuril in 2017, but the Supreme Court sentenced Nuril to six months imprisonment and fined her Rp 500 million (US$34,218) for violating Article 27 paragraph 1 of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law.
Earlier this month, Nuril visited the State Palace to request an amnesty from Jokowi, who subsequently sought approval from the House of Representatives, as Article 14 of the 1945 Constitution states that the President must take into consideration the House’s wishes when granting amnesty.
“The punishment of Baiq Nuril Maknun has triggered widespread sympathy and solidarity from the public, who feel that [her] conviction contravened the public sense of justice,” Jokowi wrote in his letter.
