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Trans woman burned to death in North Jakarta
According to Yuni, a 48-year-old activist at transgender advocacy group Yayasan Srikandi Sejati who was also Mira’s friend, the alleged perpetrators had accused Mira of stealing a truck driver’s phone and wallet.
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Fire (Shutterstock/File)
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42-year-old trans woman named Mira was burned to death in Cilincing, North Jakarta, allegedly by several gang members who had accused Mira of theft.
The Cilincing police confirmed that the incident occurred but declined to provide any details on the case.
“We are still searching for the perpetrators. Please pray for us so we can find them,” the Cilincing Police’s head of criminal investigation division, Adj. Comr. Bryan Rio Wicaksono, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
According to Yuni, a 48-year-old activist at transgender advocacy group Yayasan Srikandi Sejati, who was also Mira’s friend, the gang members accused Mira of stealing a truck driver’s phone and wallet. The truck driver had parked his vehicle near Mira’s home.
Orin, another friend of Mira’s, was there when the incident occurred during the early hours of Saturday.
Read also: 'Yes, I am transgender': Indonesian singer braves hostility in emotional video
Orin told the Post that the gang members, who worked as informal security guards for trucks that parked in their neighborhood, had beaten up Mira after they could not find the goods they accused her of stealing.
Orin said that not long after they had beaten Mira, two of the gang members poured roughly 2 liters of gasoline on her.
“[One of the gang members] asked Mira, ‘Will you confess? If not I will burn you’,” Orin said. At that point, one of the gang members dropped a lighter on Mira, setting her on fire.
Mira, who previously lived in Bekasi, West Java, before moving to North Jakarta, died at 12 p.m. on Sunday after she was admitted to Koja General Regional Hospital in Koja district, North Jakarta, on Saturday morning.
Locals took Mira to the hospital and a neighbor, Hikmah, paid the costs of Mira’s hospitalization, autopsy and burial.
LGBT rights group Arus Pelangi has called for donations to help defray the expenses Hikmah incurred.
