Arrest warrant issued against former Indonesian Playboy magazine editor

Jakarta, Oct 8 (ANI): The Jakarta Prosecutors Office has issued an arrest warrant on Friday against Erwin Arnada, the former editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine, after he failed to show up on the day he was believed to have begun his two-year jail sentence for publishing indecent pictures of women.

In August, the Supreme Court found Arnada guilty of violating Indonesia's indecency laws, overruling an earlier acquittal.

According to the Daily Express, he was scheduled to start serving his sentence from Thursday, but failed to appear to surrender.

Earlier, Arnada had said: "I'm not a fugitive, I will turn myself in this week."

Arnada faced huge protests from members of the Islamic Defenders Front after his magazine hit the market with indecent pictures in 2006.

Legal proceedings started against him, but judges at the South Jakarta District Court acquitted the editor in 2007, saying the pictures that appeared in the magazine could not be categorised as obscene.

The Islamic Defenders Front, however, appealed to the Supreme Court, which in August finally sentenced him to two-years of imprisonment. (ANI)