Indonesia arrests TikTokker for videos of ‘jokes’ mocking Christianity
- He is expected to be charged with inciting hatred under the information and electronic transactions law that has a sentence of up to six years’ jail
- Human Rights Watch says Indonesia’s blasphemy law is prone to misuse as it allows the ‘protection of religion to be weaponised as a political tool’
An Indonesian TikTokker accused of blasphemy against Christianity has been arrested in North Sumatra province after videos of him mocking the religion went viral on the popular Chinese-owned app.
Police said Fikri Murtadha was picked up from his home and brought to Medan city for investigation.
“We arrested the TikTok user Fikri as he is suspected to have committed blasphemy against Christianity,” senior police officer Teuku Fathir Mustafa said.
Fathir said the 28-year-old allegedly insulted the Christian faith in one of his videos by telling Christians to return a cross to the state-run utility company PLN to be reused as an electricity pole once they had “repented”.
That clip spread quickly on the short-video platform.
In another TikTok post, Fikri also said he would visit a church and blast the opening soundtrack of the British animated children’s series “Shaun the Sheep” via a Bluetooth speaker.