Indonesian transgender woman celebrity Millen Cyrus moved to private jail cell after outrage
- The 21-year-old was put in a special cell following public fury over her initial placement in a male ward after she was arrested in a drug raid
- The group Human Rights Watch said moving the Instagram influencer to a special cell was a good decision by police
“As for her status on her ID, she is a male, and we do not have a transgender status here. So to avoid something we do not want, we placed her in a special cell by herself. That is our policy on it,” Jakarta Police spokesperson Yusri Yunus said on Friday.
Cyrus, 21, whose birth name is Muhammad Millendaru Prakasa, has more than 1 million followers on Instagram. Her account of her experiences as a transgender woman on YouTube has been viewed more than 6 million times.
She was arrested on Sunday in a police raid on a hotel room in which 0.36gm of crystal methamphetamine was found. Police announced then that she had been placed in the men’s detention cell at Tanjung Priok Port Police Station, following her identity on her ID card.
Anger after Indonesian trans woman influencer placed in male jail cell
That triggered criticism from rights groups and on social media in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.
Yunus said police are still determining whether she was a drug user or dealer.
The group Human Rights Watch said moving Cyrus to a special cell was a good decision by police.
“The simplest one is verbal abuse. Some physical abuse happens too. It is not in the cell at the prison but in closed areas,” Harsono said.
In February, some members of the House of Representatives proposed a bill that would define homosexuality as deviant and require lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to report to authorities for rehabilitation.