Indonesian social media influencer Ratu Thalisa has been under the spotlight after she suggested in one of her videos that Jesus should cut his hair. 

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After the incident, Thalisa was sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison on the charges of blasphemy. 

She was sentenced by a court in North Sumatra province over her comments made on an image of Jesus Christ. 

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Who is Ratu Thalisa?

Ratu Thalisa, a Muslim transgender woman, has nearly 450,000 followers on TikTok. She is online known as Ratu Entok. 

She made the remarks on Jesus after a viewer said that she should cut her hair to look like a man. 

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In a live broadcast on October 2, 2024, Thalisa held up a picture of Jesus Christ and said, “You should not look like a woman. You should cut your hair so that you will look like his father.”

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Following this, five Christian groups filed complaints to Indonesian police alleging blasphemy, leading to Thalisa's arrest on October 8. 

Moreover, the court ordered Thalisa to pay a fine of around $6,200.

The court further said that her remarks disrupted "public order" and "religious harmony", according to a report by Amnesty International Indonesia. 

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However, her sentence has been condemned by human rights groups, including Amnesty International, as they 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."

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(With inputs from agencies)