Lina Mukherjee, an Indonesian Muslim woman, has been sentenced to two years in jail and fined 250 million Indonesian rupiahs ($25,296) for sharing a TikTok video where she recited an Islamic prayer before trying pork while visiting Bali.
Lina Mukherjee was found guilty of “spreading information aimed at inciting hatred against religious individuals and specific groups.”
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In addition to her two-year prison sentence, the court fined her 250,000,000 Indonesian rupiah ($25,296), a small fortune in a country where the annual per capita wage is around $6700.
Lina Mukherjee’s jail term could be extended by three months if she does not pay the fine, the court added.
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Speaking to reporters outside court after the trial, Mukherjee expressed shock at the sentence.
Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim nation, where 231 million people, at least 93 percent of its adult population, identify as Muslim.
Religious conservatism has been on the rise in the country in recent years and rights groups have warned that blasphemy laws are being “increasingly weaponized” against religious minorities and those deemed to have insulted Islam.
Eating pork is forbidden in Islam, but it’s consumed by many non-Muslims in the country.
Lina Mukherjee, who has a substantial social media following, faced backlash over the video, and religious groups labeled it “blasphemous.”
This case highlights concerns about the rise of religious conservatism in Indonesia and the use of blasphemy laws to suppress freedom of expression.