Human rights groups have condemned the ruling against Ratu Thalisa (pictured). Anugrah Rija Nasution/Tribun-Medan.com

Ratu Thalisa, a Muslim transgender woman with more than 442,000 TikTok followers, had been on a livestream, and was responding to a comment that told her to cut her hair to look more like a man.

On Monday, a court in Medan, Sumatra found Thalisa guilty of spreading hatred under a controversial online hate-speech law, and sentenced her to two years and 10 months in jail.

The court said her comments could disrupt “public order” and “religious harmony” in society, and charged her with committing blasphemy.

The court ruling came after multiple Christian groups filed police complaints against Ms Thalisa for blasphemy.

The sentence has been condemned by human rights groups, including Amnesty International, who described it as “a shocking attack on Ratu Thalisa’s freedom of expression” and called for it to be quashed.

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

Mr Hamid called on Indonesian authorities to overturn Ms Thalisa’s conviction and ensure her immediate release from custody.

He also urged them to repeal or make substantial revisions to what he described as “problematic provisions” in the EIT Law – namely, those criminalising alleged immorality, defamation and hate speech.

First introduced in 2008 and amended in 2016 to address online defamation, the EIT Law was designed to safeguard the rights of individuals in online spaces.

It has been roundly criticised, however, by rights groups, press groups and legal experts, who have long raised concerns about the law’s potential threat to freedom of expression.

At least 560 people were charged with alleged violations of the EIT Law while exercising their freedom of expression between 2019 and 2024, and 421 were convicted, according to data from Amnesty International.

Those charged with offenses of defamation and hate speech have included several social media influencers.

In September 2023, a Muslim woman was sentenced to two years’ prison for blaspheming Islam, after she posted a viral TikTok video where she said an Islamic phrase before eating pork.

In 2024, another TikToker was detained for blasphemy after they posted a quiz asking children what kind of animals can read the Quran, according to Amnesty International.

Indonesia is home to many religious minorities, including Buddhists, Christians and Hindus. But a vast majority of Indonesians are Muslim – and most cases of people found in violation of the EIT Law have typically related to religious minorities allegedly insulting Islam.

Ms Thalisa’s case, where a Muslim woman is accused of invoking hate speech against Christianity, is less common.

Prosecutors previously demanded that she receive a sentence of more than four years, and immediately appealed against Monday’s verdict. Ms Thalisa was given seven days to appeal.

Gavin Butler
BBC News