Indonesia lawmaker 'caught watching porn in parliament'

Arifinto, who represents the conservative Islamic Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), was caught on camera on Friday looking at a pornographic image on the tablet, which he held slightly under his table, during a plenary session.

The photograph, first posted on a local news website, was picked up by other media and sparked a public outcry on the Twitter microblogging site over the weekend.

"Shameful. Just flog and stone (him). Improper!" user @benimonzieur tweeted. The case is under investigation, House Ethics Council deputy chairman Nudirman Munir said today.

"We're carrying out intensive verification to see he had indeed violated the code of ethics," he told AFP.

"If proven true, this is a serious violation as he would have ruined the image and dignity of parliament. It's best that he resign, or face dismissal," Munir added.

Arifinto however claimed he had unintentionally opened an email link that led to "pornographic images", the Jakarta Globe newspaper reported.