A couple was publicly flogged 100 times each in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province on Tuesday after a Sharia court found them guilty of having sexual relations outside marriage, as the region continues to enforce Islamic law under its unique autonomous status.
The man and woman, whose ages were not disclosed, received 100 cane lashes each in a public park in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, with dozens of people watching. “We implement Islamic law in Aceh, so whenever someone violates it, we have to carry out punishments like the caning we just conducted,” Rajesh Kana, an official from the local prosecutors’ office, told AFP.
The pair were among six people flogged on Tuesday. Four others received between eight and 29 strokes each for offences such as having physical contact with a member of the opposite sex or drinking alcohol. One woman sentenced to 27 lashes fainted after the final stroke and was treated by paramedics at the scene.
Caning retains strong support in Aceh to punish a range of offences, including gambling, drinking alcohol, same-sex relations, and sexual relations outside marriage. Men can also be caned for missing Friday prayers.
Aceh operates under a legal framework distinct from the rest of Indonesia. It is the only place in Indonesia to impose a version of Sharia law, and the couple were among several punished publicly at a park in Banda Aceh as dozens of onlookers gathered.
Tuesday’s punishment follows a series of similar sentences carried out in the province in recent months. In January, Sharia police in Aceh caned an unmarried couple 140 times each, likely the severest such punishment since Sharia law was implemented in the province in 2015.
Rights organisations have repeatedly condemned the practice. Amnesty International has described public flogging under Aceh’s Islamic Criminal Code as a disturbing act of state-sanctioned cruelty, arguing that such punishments are cruel, inhuman, and degrading and may amount to torture under international law.
Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country but officially recognises six religions as well as indigenous beliefs. Aceh’s Sharia statutes apply exclusively within the province under a special autonomy arrangement with the central government in Jakarta.
