The Jakarta Metro Police has charged a man with blasphemy after he shared an offensive meme about Prophet Muhammad to a WhatsApp group.
Police have revealed to the public the suspect’s identity as 39-year-old Joseph Suryadi. Recently, a screenshot taken from the group went viral, showing Joseph posting a meme that implied that Islam’s revered prophet was a pedophile.
The screenshot triggered massive outrage in the world’s most populous Muslim country, with hashtags like #TangkapJosephSuryadi (arrest Joseph Suryadi) becoming the top trending topic on social media in recent days.
Police said that amid the public outrage, Joseph himself went to the Jakarta Metro Police HQ to report that he had misplaced his phone, in an apparent attempt to divert the blame away from home.
However, the police’s investigation revealed that Joseph had lied about the missing phone, and he eventually confessed to sharing the meme as a form of hate speech against a religious belief.
The police charged Joseph with blasphemy under the Information and Electronic Transactions Act (UU ITE) and the Criminal Code (KUHP), carrying a maximum punishment of six years’ imprisonment.
