TikToker in Indonesia faces jail & fine for saying Jesus should get a haircut
A TikToker in Indonesia has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison and fined approximately S$8,300 for remarks made about Jesus Christ during a livestream.
According to CNN, Ratu Thalisa received her sentence on Monday (10 March) for comments that authorities deemed offensive and capable of inciting religious disharmony.
TikToker said Jesus should get a haircut
On 2 Oct last year, Ratu Thalisa, a Muslim transgender woman with over 442,000 TikTok followers, held up a picture of Jesus Christ during a livestream.
“You should not look like a woman,” she said to the picture. “You should cut your hair so that you will look like his father.”
The woman made the comment in response to one of her viewers telling her to cut her hair so she would look like a man.
Christian groups file complaints leading to arrest
Following the livestream, five Christian groups lodged police reports against her. Less than a week later, on 8 Oct, Ratu Thalisa was arrested.
According to the BBC, a court in Sumatra found her guilty of spreading hatred under an online hate-speech law. The court charged her with blasphemy, adding that her comments could disrupt “public order” and “religious harmony”.
As a result, the court sentenced her to two years and 10 months in jail. They also slapped her with a fine of around S$8,300.
Source: BBC
Controversial sentencing panned by human rights groups
Amnesty International and other human rights organisations have strongly criticised the verdict, calling for the sentence to be overturned.
Amnesty International Indonesia’s Executive Director Usman Hamid described the ruling as a “shocking attack on Ratu Thalisa’s freedom of expression.”
“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,” he said in a statement.
Indonesia’s online hate-speech law, known as the Electronic Information and Transactions (EIT) law, has long been a point of contention among human rights advocates, journalists, and legal experts, who argue that it stifles free speech.
Between 2019 and 2024, Amnesty International reported that 560 people were charged under the EIT law, with 421 convictions.
Most of these cases involved religious minorities allegedly insulting Islam. Cases like Ratu Thalisa’s, where a Muslim individual is convicted of insulting Christianity, are significantly rarer.
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Featured image adapted from Gscene.Â
