Send the victim to prison

Male boss sexually harasses female underling. She records one of his phone calls. She is sentenced to six months in prison.

Indonesia’s top court has rejected an appeal by a woman who was sentenced to six months in prison for recording and sharing a phone conversation she had with her boss to prove that he was sexually harassing her.

The Supreme Court said Baiq Nuril Maknun was guilty of spreading “indecent” material.

Her boss reported her to the police in 2015 after the recording was circulated.

Rights groups condemned the ruling.

Nuril had complained of getting lewd phone calls from the head teacher of the school she worked at in Mataram, a city on the island of Lombok.

So she recorded one of his calls, and shared it with staff at the school and the head of an education agency. It went viral on social media. The man reported her to the police.

The Supreme Court found her guilty in November of “violating decency” under Indonesia’s electronic information and transactions law. On Thursday, it dismissed her efforts to have the verdict overturned, saying she had failed to produce new evidence.

The court also fined her 500 million rupiah (£28,200; $35,200).

The case has sparked outrage in Indonesia, with rights groups warning that the verdict sends a worrying message to victims of sexual harassment.

“We are concerned about the impact of this decision because it opens a door for perpetrators of sexual violence to criminalise victims,” Ade Wahyudin, executive director of the Legal Aid Foundation for the Press, told Reuters news agency.

H/t Soraya

 

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