A 37-year-old Indonesian woman, Baiq Nuril Maknun, has been jailed by a court for documenting her boss’ sexual harassment.
The Indonesian woman who was handed a 6 months jail sentence, had recorded a telephone conversation with the head teacher of the school where she worked, who she accused of making repeated unwanted sexual advances.
The country’s Supreme Court’s shock ruling overturned an earlier court decision that had cleared the woman, Baiq Nuril Maknun, of breaking a controversial law against spreading indecent material.
“I’m saddened and shocked by this sentence,” Maknun’s husband Lalu Muhamad Isnaini said on Friday (Nov 16) in reaction to the ruling, which was issued last week.
“The Supreme Court judges were satisfied that she has violated the law,” court spokesman, Suhadi, told Reuters. She was sentenced to 6 months in prison and fined $34,000.
The odd case stretches back to 2012 when Maknun recorded a conversation, in which the principal of the school where she worked on the island of Lombok revealed graphic sexual details about an affair he was having with another colleague.
Co-workers of the school administrator – who herself had rebuffed the principal’s repeated advances – later convinced Maknun to release the recording in a bid to expose the man’s history of lecherous behaviour, according to her lawyer Joko Jumadi.
“The principal shared very graphic details about his affair with the school’s treasurer in the recording,” he told AFP.
