A couple in Indonesia’s Aceh province received 140 cane lashes each for sex outside marriage and drinking alcohol in a severe public sharia punishment.
BANDA ACEH: A couple was publicly caned 140 times each in Indonesia’s Aceh province for having sex outside marriage and consuming alcohol.
The punishment, administered by sharia police in a public park, is believed to be one of the severest since the region adopted Islamic law.
A crowd watched as the man and woman were struck on their backs with a rattan stick. The woman fainted after her punishment and was taken to an ambulance.
Muhammad Rizal, head of Banda Aceh’s Sharia police, said the lashes comprised 100 strokes for sex outside marriage and 40 for drinking alcohol.
The couple was among six people flogged for breaking the Islamic code on Thursday. Another pair, a sharia police officer and his female partner caught in close proximity, received 23 lashes each.
“As promised, we make no exceptions, especially not for our own members. This certainly tarnishes our name,” Rizal told AFP.
Caning is a widely supported punishment in Aceh for offences including gambling, drinking alcohol, and gay or extramarital sex.
Last year, two men were publicly flogged 76 times each after a sharia court found them guilty of sexual relations.
Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that imposes a version of sharia law, which was implemented after it was granted special autonomy in 2001.
