In Indonesia, Transgender Women Find Haven in Islamic Boarding School

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16 October 2018 08:23 WIB

Shinta Ratri, owner of Islamic boarding school for transgender women, sits in prayer in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, September 23, 2018. Shinta Ratri, the matron of an Indonesian Islamic boarding school, corrects the pronunciation of a group of fellow Muslims as they chant the phrase "only one God" in Arabic and prepare to pray together. REUTERS/Kanupriya Kapoor

16 Oktober 2018 00:00 WIB

Yuni Shara, a transgender woman puts on a sarong before praying at an Islamic boarding school for transgender women in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, September 23, 2018. Nothing unusual in that, except that these worshippers, gathered in a cramped residential neighbourhood of the city of Yogyakarta, are all transgender women in the worlds largest Muslim-majority country where hostility against them has surged, forcing many underground. REUTERS/Kanupriya Kapoor

16 Oktober 2018 00:00 WIB

Transgender women wash and clean themselves before prayer at Islamic boarding school for their community in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, September 23, 2018. Rights activists say hardline Islamist groups are fast eroding the countrys long-standing reputation for tolerance of minorities like the "waria" a portmanteau of the Indonesian words for "woman" and "man" as the trans community is locally known. REUTERS/Kanupriya Kapoor

16 Oktober 2018 00:00 WIB

Shinta Ratri, a transgender woman who runs an Islamic boarding school for other transgender women, speaks during an interview in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, September 23, 2018. Ratri, 56, and her students and friends witnessed this intimidation first hand in 2016, when vigilante Islamists mobbed the Pesantren Waria Al-Fatah school and forced it to shut down. Yuni Shara, 51, described how a group of aggressive men in white robes and skull caps descended on the school after Friday prayers. REUTERS/Kanupriya Kapoor

16 Oktober 2018 00:00 WIB

Cleric Umar Said, member of a hardline Islamist group poses during an interview in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, September 23, 2018. REUTERS/Kanupriya Kapoor

16 Oktober 2018 00:00 WIB

A group of transgender women listen to cleric Arif Nuh Safri (C) as he leads a Koran study session in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, September 23, 2018. REUTERS/Kanupriya Kapoor

16 Oktober 2018 00:00 WIB