Syariah enforcers flog four Indonesians for sex out of marriage
BANDA ACEH: Officials in Indonesia’s staunchly Islamic Aceh province publicly caned two women and two men 100 strokes each for engaging in sex outside of marriage, an AFP reporter witnessed.
In Indonesia's predominantly Islamic Aceh province, officials publicly caned four individuals for engaging in sexual activities outside of marriage. The punishment, witnessed by AFP reporter, involved the four adults being caned 100 times each in a public park in Banda Aceh. The event drew a crowd, including children, some of whom chanted for the canings to be harsher.
Four others received 22 lashes each for engaging in physical intimacy, which includes actions like hugging and kissing, while two others were caned seven times for getting too close to each other, which can involve holding hands. A man was flogged 20 times for consuming alcohol, a crime in Aceh. These acts are considered illegal in the province, which applies a version of Syariah law, a stricter form of Islamic law, since 2002.
The province's strict laws have been supported by many, including for offenses like gambling and gay sex. Aceh, Indonesia's only province to implement Syariah law, enjoys special autonomy granted under a 2005 peace deal that ended a 30-year separatist insurgency. Despite being the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, Indonesia officially recognizes six other religions as well as indigenous beliefs.
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