The court ruled that her remarks could disrupt public order and religious harmony.
Human rights groups have condemned the ruling, calling it an attack on free speech and religious expression.
An Indonesian TikToker has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison for blasphemy after making a comment about Jesus Christ during a livestream.
Ratu Thalisa, a Muslim transgender woman with over 442,000 TikTok followers, was responding to a comment urging her to cut her hair to look more masculine when she jokingly addressed a picture of Jesus on her phone, telling him to get a haircut.
A court in Medan, Sumatra, found Thalisa guilty of spreading hatred under Indonesia’s controversial online hate-speech law and sentenced her to two years and 10 months in prison.
The court ruled that her remarks could disrupt public order and religious harmony.
Human rights groups have condemned the ruling, calling it an attack on free speech and religious expression.
Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, has strict blasphemy laws that have been criticised for disproportionately targeting religious minorities and LGBTQ+ individuals.
Thalisa’s conviction has sparked debate over the limits of free speech and the country’s increasing use of blasphemy laws to police online content.
The BBC reports that the court ruling followed multiple police complaints from Christian groups accusing Ms. Thalisa of blasphemy.
Human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have condemned the sentence.
Amnesty called it “a shocking attack on Ratu Thalisa’s freedom of expression” and demanded that it be overturned.
“The Indonesian authorities should not use the Electronic Information and Transactions (EIT) Law to punish individuals for social media comments,” said Usman Hamid, Amnesty International Indonesia’s Executive Director.
While Indonesia prohibits religious hate speech that incites discrimination, hostility, or violence, Amnesty argues that Ms. Thalisa’s remarks do not meet that threshold.
Mr. Hamid urged authorities to overturn her conviction and secure her immediate release.
He also called for substantial revisions to the EIT Law, specifically its provisions on immorality, defamation, and hate speech.
First enacted in 2008 and amended in 2016, the EIT Law was intended to protect individuals online.
However, rights groups, press organisations, and legal experts have criticised it as a potential threat to freedom of expression.
Between 2019 and 2024, at least 560 people were charged under the EIT Law for exercising free speech, with 421 convictions, Amnesty International reports.
Many included social media influencers accused of defamation or hate speech.
In September 2023, a Muslim woman received a two-year prison sentence for blasphemy after posting a viral TikTok video in which she uttered an Islamic phrase before eating pork.
In 2024, another TikToker was detained for blasphemy after posting a quiz asking children what kind of animals can read the Quran.
Indonesia is home to religious minorities, including Buddhists, Christians, and Hindus, though the vast majority of Indonesians are Muslim. Most blasphemy cases involve religious minorities accused of insulting Islam.
Ms. Thalisa’s case, in which a Muslim woman faces hate speech charges against Christianity, is rare.
Prosecutors had initially sought a sentence of over four years and have already appealed Monday’s verdict. Ms. Thalisa has seven days to file an appeal.
