from www.thesun.co.uk – An Indonesian pop star whose sex tapes spread wildly on the internet has been jailed for three and a half years.

X-rated footage of Nazril “Ariel” Irham, 30, and his celebrity girlfriends rocked the Muslim nation.

The case led to a wide crackdown on internet porn in the country — and highlighted a divide between young and old.

Fans of Irham’s band Peterpan broke down in tears, saying he recorded the videos in the privacy of his own home and didn’t plan to make them public.

But hundreds of Islamic hard-liners surrounded the court and tried to smash down its gates, demanding the singer be given a harsher penalty.

Irham was jailed under a controversial pornography law passed in 2008 to ban public displays of nudity and behaviour that could incite lust.

Judge Singgih Budi Prakoso said: “The defendant is legitimately and convincingly guilty of giving chances for others to spread, make and provide pornography.”

Police said earlier a friend of Irham’s had taken the sex tape off his computer and posted it on the Internet.

Irham denied it was him on the tape.

The crowd at the court included teenage girls wearing T-shirts with the word “freedom”, and skullcap- and headscarf-wearing members of Islamic groups.

Irham was also fined 250million rupiah (£17,500).

Under the law, anyone who produces, makes, copies, circulates, broadcasts, offers, trades, loans or provides pornography can be jailed for between six months and 12 years and can be fined up to six billion rupiah (£420,000).

After the Irham case blew up, Communications and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring called for tighter internet controls, including requiring providers to stop access to pornography.