A Muslim woman was sentenced to two years in prison in Indonesia for blasphemy after sharing a video on the social network Tik Tok in which she recited an Islamic prayer before eating pork.
Lina Lutfiawati, known as Lina Mukherjee, who was visiting the island of Bali, was tried on Tuesday (19) at the Palembang district court, on the island of Sumatra.
The 33-year-old woman was found guilty of “disseminating information intended to incite hatred against religious individuals and specific groups,” according to court documents.
In addition to the two-year prison sentence, the court fined her US$16,245 (about R$80,000), a high amount in a country where the annual per capita salary is about US$4,300 (about R$ 21,000).
Lutfiawati’s sentence could be extended by three months if she fails to pay the fine, the court added.
Speaking to reporters outside court on Tuesday after the trial, Lutfiawati expressed shock at the sentence.
“I know I was wrong, but I really didn’t expect this punishment,” she said, in comments published by CNN Indonesia. It is possible that Lutfiawati will appeal the decision.
Blasphemy cases increase
Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim nation, where 231 million people, at least 93% 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 considered to have insulted Islam.
Pork is prohibited in Islam and eating it is taboo among most Indonesian Muslims.
But the meat is commonly consumed by millions of non-Muslims, including the country’s ethnic Chinese population, as well as those living on the Hindu-majority island of Bali.
Lutfiawati, who identifies as Muslim, has more than two million followers on social media.
The video in which the woman appears reciting the Islamic phrase “Bismillah” (in the name of Allah), before eating pork, was shared on Tik Tok in March.
Bismillah is one of the most important and common sacred phrases in Islam. It is the first sentence of the Quran and is often uttered by Muslims before eating. It is also often used as a generic statement.
The video, which Lutfiawati said was filmed when she was traveling in Bali, showed her trying babi guling, a popular street food made from rice and pieces of spit-roasted pork and cracklings served with vegetables.
She talks to the camera and makes a face as she tries a piece of pork crackling.
The video attracted millions of views but was condemned by religious groups, including the Indonesian Ulema Council, the country’s top Muslim clerical body, which issued a ruling calling it “blasphemous.”
The images also generated a public complaint that triggered police investigations, which led to Lutfiawati being prosecuted.
Photos and videos taken of Lutfiawati during the trial and released by CNN Indonesia often showed her in tears and accompanied by security guards.
“She didn’t do anything wrong, but that says a lot about [o estado da] Indonesia. How a self-proclaimed moderate Muslim country is becoming a radicalized Muslim nation,” Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher at Human Rights Watch, told CNN .
“The chapter on blasphemy in the penal code has been increased from one to six articles – a serious setback to the protection of freedom of religion and belief in Indonesia,” he added.
“This goes against the global trend of not enforcing blasphemy laws or eliminating them altogether.”
One of the most high-profile blasphemy cases in Indonesia was that of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, an ethnic Chinese-Indonesian politician widely known as Ahok, who served as Jakarta’s first non-Muslim governor in 50 years.
He was tried for blasphemy in 2017, after angering Muslims by referencing a verse from the Quran while campaigning for re-election in 2016. Ahok was imprisoned for two years, despite making a public apology.
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Source: CNN Brasil
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