Two women in Indonesia have been arrested on suspicion of blasphemy after a video allegedly showing one of them stepping on a Quran circulated online. Police in Banten province confirmed the arrests on 12 April, saying the incident took place earlier that week in Lebak district, about 140km from the capital Jakarta.
According to authorities, the incident occurred on 8 April at a beauty salon, where the owner accused a customer of theft. When the customer denied the allegation, the situation escalated, and the salon owner demanded that the customer prove her innocence by stepping on the Quran, recording the act on a mobile phone. The footage was subsequently shared widely on social media, provoking outrage across the predominantly Muslim country.
The identities and ages of the two suspects have not been disclosed. Banten police spokesperson Maruli Ahiles Hutapea told AFP that both women had admitted their involvement and had been formally named as suspects. If convicted under Indonesia's blasphemy law, they could face up to five years in prison. The law prohibits statements that offend any of the six officially recognised religions or that attempt to dissuade individuals from following their faith.
Indonesia, home to nearly 240 million Muslims, has long struggled to balance religious sensitivity with freedom of expression. Human rights groups have repeatedly criticised the blasphemy law, which has been used to prosecute a number of individuals. In 2017, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the former governor of Jakarta known as Ahok, was jailed for almost two years for blasphemy, a verdict described by Human Rights Watch as a huge setback for the country's tolerance and minorities.
More recently, in 2022, former minister Roy Suryo was arrested after sharing a doctored image of a Borobudur Temple stupa resembling then-president Joko Widodo, which drew complaints from Buddhist groups. The following year, a comedian was sentenced to seven months in prison for making a joke involving the name Muhammad, underscoring the ongoing controversies surrounding the law.
