Indonesia court jails transgender woman for remark about Jesus’ hair

Ratu Thalisa was found guilty by a court in Medan city.PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM RATUTALISHAREAL/INSTAGRAM via The Straits Times/Asia News Network

MEDAN, Indonesia — An Indonesian court sentenced a transgender woman to more than two years in prison last week for a remark online about Jesus’ hair, a local official said, in a case condemned by rights groups as excessive.

Ratu Thalisa was found guilty by a court in Medan city on the western island of Sumatra of spreading hatred under a widely-criticized online hate-speech law in a TikTok livestream, Dapot Dariarma of the local prosecutor’s office told AFP.

The judge handed the woman — a Muslim according to court documents — a sentence of two years and 10 months, he said.

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In the livestream in October, Ratu was reportedly shown talking to a picture of Jesus on her smartphone and telling him to cut his long hair.

Ratu, who sold beauty products online, was reportedly responding to a comment that told her to cut her hair to avoid appearing like a woman.

Rights groups, who have slammed the electronic information law as too vague and open to misuse against religious minorities, called for the sentence to be quashed.

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“This prison sentence is a shocking attack on Ratu Thalisa’s freedom of expression,” said Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia, in a statement.

“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.”

Prosecutors immediately appealed Monday’s verdict, which was more lenient than their demand for a sentence of more than four years. Ratu has seven days to decide whether to appeal.

The Southeast Asian nation of some 280 million has significant numbers of religious minorities — including Christians, Hindus and Buddhists — who have been targeted by radical Islamist groups amid concerns about rising intolerance.

But the law has also been increasingly used by religious minorities to report perceived violations.

In 2022, former sports and youth minister Roy Suryo was sentenced to nine months in prison after a court found him guilty of hate speech for retweeting pictures of then-President Joko Widodo’s face superimposed on a Buddhist statue.