A transgender influencer, Ratu Thalisa, is sentenced to three years in jail over her remark on Jesus during a live stream. According to the BBC, she was seen “talking” to a picture of Jesus and asking for a haircut to “look more like a man.” She was convicted by a court in Medan, an Indonesian city.

Why was Ratu Thalisa jailed?

Ratu Thalisa is an online content creator with over 4 lakh followers on TikTok. She is a Muslim transgender woman who was found guilty of spreading hate speech against Christianity. Besides jail time, she was also ordered to pay 100,000,000 IDR ($6,200) in fines.

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According to a report by Amnesty International Indonesia, an NGO focused on human rights, the court said that her remarks disrupted “public order” and “religious harmony.”

What did Ratu Thalisa say?

According to Amnesty’s report, on October 2, 2024, a TikTok viewer asked Thalisa to cut her hair like a man. In response, she shared a live stream on her channel in which she was seen holding a picture of Jesus Christ.

“You should not look like a woman. You should cut your hair so that you will look like his father,” she said. Two days later on October 4, 2024, a complaint was filed against her for blasphemy by five Christian groups.

Call for overturning the sentencing:

“The Indonesian authorities should not use the country’s Electronic Information and Transactions (EIT) law to punish people for comments made on social media,” Usman Hamid, Amnesty International Indonesia’s Executive Director, said in a statement, reported the BBC.

“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 added.