Muslim transgender TikToker dey sentenced to prison after e tell Jesus to go cut im hair

Indonesian TikToker don collect jail sentence of almost three years in prison afta she reportedly 'tok' to a picture of Jesus for her phone and tell am to go get a haircut.

Ratu Thalisa na Muslim transgender woman wit more dan 442,000 TikTok followers. She bin dey on a livestream and dey respond to one comment wey tell her to go cut her hair to look more like a man.

On Monday, one court for Medan, Sumatra find Thalisa guilty of spreading hatred under a controversial online hate-speech law, and sentence her to two years and 10 months in jail.

Di court say her comments fit cause kasala and disturb "public order" and "religious harmony" for society. So, di court charge her wit committing blasphemy.

Di court ruling bin come afta multiple Christian groups bin file police complaints against Ms Thalisa for blasphemy.

Meanwhile, Human rights groups, including Amnesty International don condemn di sentencing of di woman to prison.

Amnesty describe am as "a shocking attack on Ratu Thalisa freedom of expression" and call say make dem set am aside.

Amnesty International Indonesia Executive Director Usman Hami, tok for im statement say "di Indonesian authorities no suppose use di kontri Electronic Information and Transactions (EIT) law to punish pipo for comments wey dem make for social media."

"While Indonesia suppose stop di advocacy of religious hatred wey constitute incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, Ratu Thalisa speech act no reach dat level."

Mr Hamid call on Indonesian authorities to overturn Ms Thalisa conviction and ensure say dem release her from custody wit immediate effect.

E also ask dem to cancel or make revisions to wetin e describe as "problematic provisions" for di Indonesia EIT Law- and e include dose wey criminalise alleged immorality, defamation and hate speech.

Wetin be di EIT Law for Indonesia?

Na 2008 dem first introduce di EIT Law and dem later amend am for 2016 to address online defamation.

Di EIT Law dey designed to safeguard di rights of individuals for online spaces.

Plenti sabi pipo don criticise am, including rights groups, press groups and legal sabi pipo wey raise concerns about di law and di potential threat to freedom of expression.

At least 560 pipo bin dey charged wit alleged violations of di EIT Law while exercising dia freedom of expression between 2019 and 2024.

Also about 421 dey convicted within dat year, according to data from Amnesty International.

Dose wey dem charge wit offenses of defamation and hate speech bin include several social media influencers.

For September 2023, one Muslim woman chop two year prison sentence for blaspheming Islam, afta she bin post a viral TikTok video wia she tok Islamic phrase bifor she chop pig meat (pork).

According to Amnesty International, for 2024, anoda TikToker chop detention for blasphemy afta dem post a quiz asking children which kain animals fit read di Quran.

Indonesia na home to many religious minorities, including Buddhists, Christians and Hindus.

But majority of Indonesians na Muslim – and most cases of pipo wey dem find wey dey violate di EIT Law dey typically related to religious minorities allegedly insulting Islam.

Di case of Ms Thalisa wia a Muslim woman dey accused of invoking hate speech against Christianity dey less common- e no dey happun everitime.

Di prosecutors bin demand say make she receive a sentence of more dan four years, and immediately appeal against di verdict.

Ms Thalisa get seven days to appeal di court judgement.