Indonesian Teen J‌‌ail‌e‌d After Getting R‌ap‌e‌d By Her Brother and Getting an Abor‌tion

An Indonesian teenage girl r‌ap‌e‌d by her own brother is spending six months behind bars after getting an ab‌ort‌ion.

The girl, 15, received the sentence on July 19 at Muara Bulian District Court in Sumatra, according to AFP

She was charged under the country’s child protection law which prohibits abortion unless a woman’s life is at risk or it qualifies under certain conditions if a woman is r‌ap‌ed.

Indonesian law requires that abortion is performed by a registered professional no later than six weeks into a pregnancy. Counseling is also mandated.

The girl, who had the abortion six months into the pregnancy, was charged alongside her 17-year-old brother, who is facing two years for se‌x‌ua‌ll‌y a‌ssaul‌tin‌g a minor.

The siblings, both represented by government lawyers, were arrested in June after a male fetus was discovered at a palm oil plantation near Pulau village in Jambi province.

Neighbors reportedly found the headless fetus and informed the police at once.

Court spokesman Listyo Arif Budiman said that the girl was r‌ap‌e‌d eight times beginning in September 2017.

The prosecution originally sought one year for the girl and seven years for her brother.

Maidina Rahmawati, head of research for the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, told CNN that the girl should not be i‌mpri‌son‌ ed because she is a victim.

She added that court guidelines require judges to “carefully examine cases involving women, specifically in cases of sexual v‌iolen‌ce (due to) its complexity.”

“[It] is clear that the judge involved didn’t really examine this case…. they don’t look deeper into what things were really happening behind the case,” Rahmawati said.

The siblings are serving their sentences in a juvenile rehabilitation institute. Meanwhile, their mother is under investigation for possibly facilitating the abortion.

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