INDONESIA: TRANS WOMAN’S PRISON SENTENCE FOR ‘INSULTING’ JESUS MUST BE QUASHED

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

Responding to the 2-year-and-10-month prison sentence for hate speech against Christianity handed to a trans woman, Ratu Thalisa, in Indonesia’s North Sumatra Province over comments made on her TikTok channel, Amnesty International Indonesia’s Executive Director Usman Hamid said:

“This prison sentence is a shocking attack on Ratu Thalisa’s freedom of expression. The Indonesian authorities should not use the country’s Electronic Information and Transactions (EIT) law to punish people for comments made on social media.

“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.

“This sentence highlights the increasingly arbitrary and repressive application of Indonesia’s EIT law to violate freedom of expression. The authorities must quash Ratu Thalisa’s conviction, ensure her immediate and unconditional release and repeal or make substantial revisions of problematic provisions in the EIT Law criminalizing “immorality,” defamation, and hate speech.”

Background

On 10 March, the district court in the city of Medan in North Sumatra province found Ratu Thalisa, known online as Ratu Entok, guilty of spreading hate speech against Christianity. The court also ordered her to pay 100,000,000 IDR ($6,200) in fine for the offence. The court said that her comments could disrupt “public order” and “religious harmony” in society. She was initially charged and indicted with spreading “hate speech” against a particular religion and committing blasphemy.

The conviction relates to comments she made on 2 October 2024 responding to a TikTok viewer who asked her to cut her hair like a man’s.

In response, the trans Muslim woman went live on her TikTok channel, which has about 442,000 followers, holding a picture of Jesus Christ. She said, “You should not look like a woman. You should cut your hair so that you will look like his father,” referring to the father of her viewer. 

On 4 October, five Christian groups filed a complaint to the police for blasphemy, prompting the police to arrest her four days later. Overall, 121 people have been convicted for blasphemy in Indonesia since 2018, according to data from Amnesty International Indonesia. Indonesian authorities also tend to use hate speech articles in the EIT law to punish individuals for their comments that insult religions. 

From 2019 to 2024, Amnesty registered at least 560 individuals exercising their freedom of expression were charged with alleged violations of the EIT Law in various offenses including defamation and hate speech, of whom 421 were convicted. In January 2024, the Second Amendment to the EIT Law entered into force, despite concerns that it retained criminal sanctions for defamation that had been consistently utilized to suppress human rights defenders and opposition figures.

Those targeted for blasphemy and hate speech include a number of social media influencers. A Muslim woman was jailed two years for blaspheming Islam in September 2023 after posting a TikTok video of her saying an Islamic prayer before eating pork. Last year, a TikToker was detained for blasphemy after posting a quiz video asking children the question: what kind of animals can read the Koran. 

Indonesia’s blasphemy laws violate a range of the country’s international human rights commitments – including obligations to respect and protect the rights to freedom of expression, and freedom of religion or belief.