An Indonesian pastor was accused of hate speech against Islam in July and sentenced to two years in prison.
Dedi Saputra, a pastor and convert to Christianity, was arrested in February in a case that continues to draw attention in Indonesia, according to an Aug. 21 release from International Christian Concern.
He was accused of blasphemy and hate speech via social media by the Aceh Regional Police, with a panel of judges at the Banda Aceh District Court sentencing him to two years in prison.
The sentence was half the term initially sought by the public prosecutor.
International Christian Concern said that “Saputra was legally and convincingly proven to have disseminated hate speech and committed blasphemy against Islam.”
The presiding judge said “the defendant disseminated the content via his TikTok social media account in October 2025.”
“His actions caused unrest among the people of Aceh, a region deeply characterized by its Islamic identity.”
Saputra was responding to claims online about his conversion to Christianity.
His legal team argued that Saputra had made no hateful remarks toward the people of Aceh.
The case generated added controversy because the public prosecutor uttered the remark “the blood of an apostate is lawful to shed.”
Islam heavily discourages apostasy, with converts to Christianity in the Islamic world sometimes threatened with capital punishment for following Jesus.
The Islamic religion indeed poses the greatest persecution threat to Indonesian Christians, according to the watchdog ministry Open Doors.
“Converts come mainly from a Muslim background and face the most severe persecution,” Open Doors summarized.
“If their conversion is discovered, they are put under pressure to give up their new faith.”
In the same way, Christians on the “predominantly Hindu island of Bali” face substantial risk upon forsaking Hinduism.
“Pressure on converts comes mainly from family, friends, community and the local authorities. In general, the pressure on converts in cities is less than in rural areas,” Open Doors added.
Baptists, Pentecostals, and evangelicals who seek to share the gospel are also targeted by radical Islamic groups and by their communities.
“Building or renovating a church can be fraught with difficulties — the authorities must issue a permit and Islamic groups and neighbors will often attempt to hinder the actual building process,” Open Doors continued.
This article originally appeared on The Western Journal and is reposted with permission.
