A social media influencer who hit back at trolls mocking her appearance by saying Jesus should get a haircut has been jailed for almost three years. The TikTok personality was condemned for breaching Indonesian blasphemy statutes by peddling hate speech against Christianity, as well as meddling with "public order" and "religious harmony".

Transgender Muslim woman Ratu Thalisa, who boasts close to 450,000 TikTok followers, received a sentence of two years and ten months from a North Sumatra provincial court. Human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have blasted the verdict as a "shocking attack on freedom of expression".

"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," said Usman Hamid, the executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia.

Thalisa faced prosecution under Indonesia’s contentious Electronic Information and Transactions (EIT) law. Since its inception in 2008 and subsequent amendment in 2016 to tackle online slander, the legislation has led to allegations of it being employed by Indonesian officials to impinge on freedom of expression.

As recently as September 2023, another woman received a two-year jail term for muttering a Muslim saying prior to eating pork. In a follow-up case one year later, another TikToker found themselves in hot water, arrested for blasphemy following their upload of a quiz questioning children about which animals are able to read the Quran.

Thalisa's arrest followed her response to a suggestion that she should cut her hair to appear more masculine. She brandished an image of Jesus Christ and retorted: "You should not look like a woman. You should cut your hair so that you will look like his father."

But prosecutors claimed her sentence was too lenient, and demanded she be imprisoned for a minimum of four years. Following her receiving a 'lesser' punishment, they swiftly challenged the court's recent decision by launching an appeal, claiming the penalty wasn't severe enough.

Merely days after posting the contentious comments in a TikTok video, she faced backlash from five Christian organisations who lodged complaints against her, alleging blasphemy. Beyond her custodial sentence, the court has also slapped Thalisa with an order to pay a fine totalling approximately $6,200.