An Indonesian TikToker, known as Ratu Thalisa, has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison for her comments made during a live stream. Thalisa, a Muslim transgender woman with over 442,000 followers on TikTok, was responding to a comment suggesting she cut her hair to appear more like a man. She made a gesture towards a picture of Jesus on her phone and told him to get a haircut, which led to her conviction under Indonesia’s controversial online hate-speech law.
Medan’s court on Sumatra found Thalisa guilty of spreading hatred and sentenced her to two years and 10 months in prison. The court’s statement justified the punishment as necessary to maintain public order and religious harmony, branding her comment as blasphemous. Multiple Christian groups filed police complaints against Thalisa for the alleged blasphemy.
The sentence has been strongly criticized by human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, who view it as an attack on Thalisa’s freedom of expression. They argue that Indonesian authorities should not use the Electronic Information and Transactions (EIT) Law to penalize people for their social media comments. Amnesty International’s Executive Director in Indonesia, Usman Hamid, called for the immediate release of Thalisa and the revision or repeal of the EIT Law, specifically its provisions related to immorality, defamation, and hate speech.
Introduced in 2008 and amended in 2016, the EIT Law was intended to protect individuals’ rights in online spaces. However, it has faced significant criticism from rights and press groups, as well as legal experts, who are concerned about its potential impact on freedom of expression. Between 2019 and 2024, at least 560 people were charged with EIT Law violations for freedom of expression, and 421 were convicted. Many of those charged are social media influencers.
Thalisa’s case is unusual as she is a Muslim woman accused of hate speech against Christianity. In September 2023, another Muslim woman received a two-year prison sentence for blaspheming Islam on a TikTok video. In 2024, a different TikToker was detained for blasphemy after posting a quiz about which animals can read the Quran. Indonesia, which is predominantly Muslim, has seen most EIT Law violations related to insults against Islam. However, cases involving minorities insulting other religions are less common.
Thalisa was initially facing a sentence of over four years, as demanded by the prosecutors, who immediately appealed Monday’s verdict. Thalisa has seven days to file an appeal.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2x5kn7njlo
