An Indonesian policewoman in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar was fired late last year after photos showing her topless were leaked on social media. The officer was a victim of a scheme perpetrated by a catfisher who had pretended to be another police officer, but was, in fact, a convicted murderer who had romanced her on Facebook from inside prison.

On Tuesday, the Makassar District Court found the prisoner, Alfiansyah, guilty of violating Indonesia’s Law on Electronic Information and Transactions (UU ITE) for disseminating indecent materials online. The judges sentenced him to three years in prison and a fine of IDR5 million (US$350).

Alfiansyah, an inmate at the Kota Agung Prison in Lampung, was already three years into an eight-year sentence he received after being convicted of murder in 2016.

Corruption is endemic in the Indonesian prison system and many inmates are easily able to acquire cell phones and use them while incarcerated — some have even been caught using them to run narcotics operations from the inside.

According to the prosecution, Alfiansyah created a false Facebook account that he used to fake being a senior police officer in Lampung. He got in contact with the victim and they began an online romance. In July 2018, he convinced her to appear semi-nude in a video chat, which he secretly screenshotted.

Alfiansyah then asked her for money, claiming he needed it for car repairs, When she refused to send the funds, he released the screenshots, which quickly went viral.

Shortly after, the policewoman was fired from the police force for immoral behavior.

The judges in Alfiansyah’s case said that his destruction of his victim’s career was a consideration in their sentencing decision.

Incidences of sextortion and revenge porn seem to be on the rise in Indonesia, due in part to cultural taboos that make victims reluctant to speak out as well as weak legal protections for victims (who also face the possibility of being criminalized themselves under Indonesia’s draconian pornography laws).

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