JAKARTA: Indonesian police said on Sunday (Apr 12) that they had arrested two women on blasphemy charges after a video showing one of them stepping on a Quran went viral on social media in the Muslim-majority country.
The two women, whose names and ages were not disclosed, were nabbed by police in Banten province this week and risk five years in prison if found guilty under Indonesia’s blasphemy law.
The law forbids anyone from making statements offending one of the country’s six official religions or trying to prevent someone from adhering to one of those religions.
The incident happened on Wednesday when a salon owner in Lebak, Banten, some 140km from the capital Jakarta, accused a guest of stealing her belongings.
When the woman denied it, the salon owner insisted she swear an oath while stepping on a Quran, and took a video.
“The person who stepped on the Quran, and the person who asked her to swear an oath, have both admitted what they did. Police have summoned them, and they have now been named as suspects,” Banten police spokesman Maruli Ahiles Hutapea told AFP.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/indonesia-women-face-jail-stepping-quran-6052546
