Transgender TikTok influencer jailed for telling ‘Jesus’ to get his hair cut
Trans TikToker Ratu Thalisa was handed a two-year-and-10-month prison sentence for hate speech against Christianity. (ratuentokglowskincare/TikTok)
A transgender TikTok influencer has been jailed in Indonesia for telling “Jesus” to get his hair cut.
Ratu Thalisa, who has more than 440,000 followers under the handle “ratuentokglowskincare” on the social media platform, was sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison, and fined 100,000,000 rupiah (£4,700/$6,000).
During a live stream, the influencer was told by a viewer to cut her hair to avoid looking like a woman. In response, Thalisa, who is Muslim, held up a photo of Jesus and spoke to it saying: “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 the viewer.
Five Christian groups filed a complaint of blasphemy on 2 October, and Thalisa was arrested four days later.
She was sentenced on Monday (10 March), by a district court in Medan, in the province of North Sumatra, after being found guilty of spreading hate speech against Christianity. The court said her comments could disrupt “public order” and “religious harmony” in society.
‘Shocking attack’
Human rights groups have condemned the court’s decision, with Amnesty International calling for Thalisa to be freed immediately.
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 law criminalising ‘immorality,’ defamation and hate speech.”
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