A Muslim woman has been sentenced to two years in prison under Indonesia's blasphemy law for shooting a TikTok video in which she recited an Islamic prayer before eating pork while on vacation in Bali.
Lina Lutfiawati, also known as Lina Mukherjee on social media, was tried in Palembang District court on Sumatra Island on Tuesday.
The 33-year-old was convicted of "spreading information aimed at inciting hatred against religious individuals and specific groups," according to court documents.
The judge penalized her $16,245 in addition to her two-year prison sentence. According to the court, If she does not pay the fee, her sentence might be prolonged by three months.
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Mukherjee expressed disbelief at the sentence to reporters outside court following the hearing on Tuesday.
Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country, with 231 million Muslims constituting at least 93% of the adult population.
Religious conservatism has grown in the country in recent years, and human rights organizations have warned that blasphemy laws are being "increasingly weaponized" against religious minorities and people considered to have insulted Islam.
Pork is banned in Islam, and most Indonesian Muslims avoid eating it. However, millions of non-Muslims, notably the country's ethnic Chinese population and those living on the Hindu-majority island of Bali, ingest the meat.
Mukherjee, a Muslim, has a social media following of almost 2 million people. She is known for her lifestyle and culinary films in which she samples various cuisines. In March, she attracted flak for a video she posted on TikTok in which she sat at a dining table and recited the Islamic phrase "Bismillah" (In the name of Allah) before eating crispy hog skin.
