Amnesty International has condemned the jailing of Ratu Thalisa, an Indonesian TikToker who insulted Jesus, saying the two-year-and-10-month must be quashed.

Ms Thalisa, a trans woman, was sentenced for hate speech against Christianity by a district court in the city of Medan in North Sumatra province, Indonesia on Monday.

Usman Hamid, Amnesty International Indonesia’s executive director, in a statement on Tuesday, said, “This prison sentence is a shocking attack on Ratu Thalisa’s freedom of expression. The Indonesian authorities should not use the country’s Electronic Information and Transactions (EIT) law to punish people for comments made on social media.”

Mr Hamid described Ms Thalisa’s imprisonment as an arbitrary and repressive application of Indonesia’s EIT law.

“This sentence highlights the increasingly arbitrary and repressive application of Indonesia’s EIT law to violate freedom of expression,” Mr Hamid said.

He added, “The authorities must quash Ratu Thalisa’s conviction, ensure her immediate and unconditional release and repeal or make substantial revisions of problematic provisions in the EIT Law criminalising ‘immorality’, defamation, and hate speech.

“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.”