Pastor Dedi Saputra was sentenced to prison in July 2026 under Indonesia’s blasphemy law. (USCIRF)

SURABAYA, Indonesia (Morning Star News) – A Christian pastor has been sentenced to prison for two years for violating Indonesia’s law against blasphemy and hate speech in a case that has drawn scrutiny over the speed of his arrest and trial.

A panel of judges at Banda Aceh Court on July 10 handed down the sentence to Dedi Saputra, 31, a former Muslim from Aceh Province who was serving as a pastor in West Kalimantan Province. The court ruled that Saputra had “convincingly” committed a criminal offense under laws against blasphemy and hate speech, Article 301 of Indonesia’s Criminal Code, paragraph (1) of Law No. 1 of 2023, in conjunction with Law No. 1 of 2026 on Penal Adjustments.

The two-year sentence includes time spent in detention; he has been detained since his arrest in February. Prosecutors had demanded four years of prison, leaving them undecided on whether to accept the ruling or pursue further legal action.

TikTok Video

The case began when Mohd Rendi Febriansyah, chair of the Aceh regional board of the Indonesian Islamic Student (PII), filed a police report on Nov. 5 in coordination with several government agencies and Islamic organizations in Aceh, including the Islamic Sharia Office, the Aceh Civil Service Police Unit, aceh.tribunnews.com. reported.

In a now deleted TikTok video posted by Pastor Saputra’s account, @tersadarkan5758, in the course of responding to a question about his conversion he stated, “Muhammad, before becoming a prophet, had only one wife, but when he became a prophet, he had dozens of wives.”

The clip was later edited and re-uploaded by Kenzie De Jann Weringkukly. Weringkukly added to Pastor Saputra’s statement by displaying an article from Suara Muhammadiyah magazine, which stated, “Before his prophethood (between ages 25 and 40), Prophet Muhammad SAW had only one wife, Siti Khadijah binti Khuwaylid. During this period, he never practiced polygamy, and Khadijah was his only wife until her death. Several years after his prophethood, he had 11 to 13 wives, known as the Ummahatul Mukminin (Mothers of the Believers). Most of these marriages took place in Medina for social and humanitarian reasons, and to strengthen inter-tribal ties, while Khadijah (his first wife) was his only wife in Mecca. At the time of his death, he left behind nine wives.”

Rapid Legal Process

Pastor Saputra, who was ministering to a small Christian congregation in Suka Maju village, Sungai Betung District, Bengkayang Regency, was arrested on Feb. 18 as he returned home with his wife after purchasing personal items and supplies for his church.

He was initially detained at the Bengkayang Police Resort and the West Kalimantan Regional Police headquarters before being flown to the Aceh Regional Police headquarters on Feb. 20.

The entire legal process, from arrest to sentencing, spanned just 142 days. The swiftness of the proceedings has been noted by multiple parties, with some observers suggesting it reflects a hardline attitude toward blasphemy in Aceh, the only province granted special autonomy to implement sharia (Islamic law).

Rights groups, including the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, have urged the Indonesian government to amend or eliminate blasphemy legislation, arguing that such laws are incompatible with international human rights standards and disproportionately harm minority groups, voaindonesia.com reported.

In July 2023, Setara Institute called on the Indonesian National Police to “stop or at least implement a moratorium on the use of religious blasphemy articles,” citing data showing these provisions were frequently used to “arbitrarily criminalize certain parties.”

The deputy chairman of the Setara Institute, Bonar Tigor Naipospos, told Morning Star News that there is “undeniable discrimination in law enforcement in a number of cases alleged to involve religious defamation.”

“If the perpetrators are non-Muslims and the incidents occur in predominantly non-Muslim areas, the government quickly steps in to mediate,” Naipospos said. “The government is very concerned about cases that have the potential to offend and provoke the anger of the majority.”

Naipospos said police in nearly all blasphemy cases base their charges on fatwas issued by Islamic organizations such as the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), though such religious rulings are not supposed to be a formal legal basis for state action. From 2007 to 2022, Setara Institute found that blasphemy articles were “often used to arbitrarily criminalize certain parties” and amounted to little more than a “trial by mob.”

Saputra’s case has drawn attention from international religious freedom advocates. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) lists him among those imprisoned for religious activity, noting his arrest in February by Aceh Regional Police over social media content deemed blasphemous. Voice of the Martyrs and other groups have also reported on the case, highlighting concerns over the use of blasphemy laws to target religious minorities and converts.

Aceh’s Special Autonomy

Aceh, located at the northern tip of Sumatra near Singapore and Malaysia, is the only province in Indonesia with special autonomy rights to implement sharia. Even outside Aceh, however, numerous provinces and regencies have enacted local regulations with sharia nuances.

According to the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), now the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), 24 provinces, or 72.72 percent of regions in Indonesia, issued sharia-inspired local regulations between 1999 and 2009.

Michael Buehler, a researcher at the University of London, noted in his book “Politics of Shari’a Law” that 443 sharia-based local regulations were enacted across Indonesia from 1999 to 2014. The number of such regulations often increases after legislative and regional head elections, as local lawmakers seek to attract voters and boost their electoral prospects.

The sentencing of Pastor Saputra underscores the ongoing tension between Indonesia’s commitment to religious pluralism and the reality of its blasphemy laws, which critics say are vague, discriminatory, and prone to abuse. As the country continues to grapple with issues of religious intolerance, the case is likely to fuel further debate over the future of blasphemy legislation and the protection of religious minorities in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.

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