INDONESIA- A 33-year-old Tiktoker who is a Muslim woman in Indonesia is sentenced to two years in prison for sharing a video in which she recited an Islamic prayer before tasting pork.
Lina Lutfiawati, who goes by the name Lina Mukherjee on social media, faced trial in the Palembang district court on Sumatra island on Tuesday, September 19.
She was found guilty of “disseminating information with the intent to incite hatred against religious individuals and specific groups,” as stated in court documents.
In addition to the prison sentence, she was fined $16,245 (equivalent to 250,000,000 Indonesian rupiah), a substantial amount in a country where the annual per capita income is approximately $4,300. Failure to pay the fine could result in a three-month extension of her jail term.
The video, which Mukherjee claimed was recorded during her Bali trip, featured her sampling babi guling, a popular street food consisting of rice, chunks of spit-roasted pork, crackling, and vegetables. In the video, she is seen speaking to the camera and making a grimace as she tries a piece of pork.
While the video garnered millions of views, it received strong condemnation from religious groups, including Indonesia’s top Muslim clerical body, the Indonesian Ulema Council, which issued a ruling denouncing it as “blasphemous.”
The video’s public reception led to a formal complaint, prompting police investigations and eventually the court trial.
Following the trial, Mukherjee expressed her shock at the sentencing when speaking to reporters outside the court.
“I know I was wrong but I really did not expect this punishment,” the Tiktoker said.
