Couple publicly flogged 100 in Indonesia for sex outside marriage

 

 

‎A man and woman were publicly flogged 100 times each in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province on Wednesday after they were found guilty of sex outside marriage by a court operating under strict Islamic law.

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‎Sexual relations between an unmarried couple is outlawed in Aceh, which imposes a version of sharia, the Islamic legal code.

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‎Indonesia banned sex outside of marriage in its latest criminal code in 2022 but that law will not come into force until next year.

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‎The two were lashed in sets of 10 with a rattan stick as a small crowd watched on at a park in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, and the female suspect was lashed by a woman, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.

‎Three other suspects were caned a combined 49 times for alleged gambling and alcohol consumption.

‎”Today we are carrying out flogging punishment for perpetrators of adultery, alcohol consumption, and online gambling,” Banda Aceh Mayor Illiza Sa’aduddin Djamal told reporters.

‎”This becomes a moral lesson for the community at large. This flogging punishment becomes a gateway to repentance for them.”

‎Medical services were on standby for all of those convicted.

‎Rights groups have condemned the punishment as draconian.

‎Yet caning retains strong support among Aceh’s population as a common punishment for a range of offences including gambling, drinking alcohol and adultery.

‎In February two men were publicly flogged more than 150 times after being found guilty of sexual relations. Gay sex is outlawed in Aceh.

‎The region started using religious law after it was granted special autonomy in 2001, an attempt by the central government to quell a long-running separatist insurgency.