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North Sumatra TikToker arrested for blasphemy against Christianity
Police say the TikToker insulted the religion by making jokes about the Christian cross in one of his videos.
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Illustration of blasphemy. (Shutterstock.com/File)
M
edan City Police have arrested a TikTok user in Deli Serdang regency, North Sumatra, for alleged blasphemy against the Christian faith by posting videos making fun of the religion in videos that went viral on the short video social media platform.
“We arrested the TikTok user Fikri as he is suspected to have committed blasphemy against Christianity,” Medan City Police criminal investigation department head Comr. Teuku Fathir Mustafa said on Monday.
The suspect, identified as Fikri Murtadha, 28, has been detained at the Medan City Police headquarters for investigation after being arrested at his home on Jl. Pengabdian, Bandar Klippa village, Percut Sei Tuan district, Deli Serdang on Saturday.
Fathir said Fikri had offended the Christian faith by making jokes about the Christian cross in one of his videos, saying that Christians must return a cross to the state electricity firm PLN to be reused as an electricity pole once they had “repented.”
The video on Fikri’s TikTok account BangMorteza went viral.
In another one of his social media posts, Fikri said he would visit a church carrying a Bluetooth speaker and play the opening soundtrack of the popular British animation Shaun the Sheep.
According to the police, Fikri had apologized for his social media content saying that they were jokes.
The police plan to charge Fikri for inciting hatred under the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law and the Criminal Code, which carry a sentence of up to six years in prison. (ami)
