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CHRISTIAN BREAKING NEWS: Who is Ratu Thalisa? Muslim Trans Woman Social Media Influencer Sentenced to Nearly 3 Years in Prison for Telling ‘Jesus to Cut His Hair’ on Livestream [RatuThalisa]

An Indonesian TikTok user has been sentenced to nearly 3 years in prison for allegedly ‘talking’ to a picture of Jesus on her phone and telling him to get a haircut.

Ratu Thalisa, a Muslim transgender woman with over 442,000 TikTok followers, was livestreaming and replying to a comment suggesting she cut her hair to look more like a man.

On Monday, a judge in Medan, Sumatra, convicted Thalisa guilty of propagating hatred under a contentious internet hate-speech law and sentenced her to 2 years and 10 months in prison.

The court ruled that her remarks could disrupt “public order” and “religious harmony” in society, and charged her with blasphemy.

Multiple Christian groups filed police charges against Ms Thalisa for blasphemy, prompting the court ruling.

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 EIT Law was first introduced in 2008 and updated in 2016 to handle online defamation.

Its purpose was to protect persons’ rights in online spaces.

Rights groups, press groups, and legal experts have long expressed worry about the law’s potential harm to free expression.

Thalisa’s case, in which a Muslim lady is accused of using hate speech against Christianity, is less typical.

Prosecutors previously demanded that she receive a sentence of more than 4 years, and immediately appealed against Monday’s verdict.

Thalisa was given 7 days to appeal.

NEWS SOURCE & LINKS:
BBC

Who is Ratu Thalisa? MUSLIM TRANS WOMAN SENTENCED FOR TELLING ‘JESUS TO CUT HIS HAIR’ ON LIVESTREAM | Christian Breaking News!