Indonesian TikToker jailed for blasphemy for telling Jesus to get a haircut

CNN —

An Indonesian social media influencer who suggested Jesus should cut his hair has been sentenced to two years and 10 months in jail after being found guilty of spreading hate speech against Christianity.

Ratu Thalisa, a Muslim transgender woman who has nearly 450,000 followers on TikTok, was sentenced by a court in North Sumatra province over the comments made to an image of Christ, according to a statement from rights group Amnesty International and local media reports.

Thalisa, who is known online as Ratu Entok, made the comments after a viewer said she should cut her hair to look like a man.

In a live broadcast on October 2, 2024, Thalisa held up a picture of Jesus Christ and said: “You should not look like a woman. You should cut your hair so that you will look like his father.”

Five Christian groups filed complaints to Indonesian police alleging blasphemy, leading to Thalisa’s arrest on October 8.

In addition to jail time, the court ordered Thalisa to pay a fine of around $6,200.

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She was sentenced under Indonesia’s Electronic Information and Transactions (EIT) law after the court ruled that her comments could affect “public order” and “religious harmony.”

Amnesty International Indonesia’s Executive Director Usman Hamid said Monday that the “sentence is a shocking attack on Ratu Thalisa’s freedom of expression,” and that the EIT law should not be used to punish people for social media comments.

“While Indonesia should prohibit the advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, Ratu Thalisa’s speech act does not reach that threshold,” Hamid said