Two men have been flogged 76 times each in Indonesia’s Aceh province after a sharia court found them guilty of engaging in same-sex relations.
According to reports, the public flogging took place on Tuesday, August 26, at a park in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital.
Witnesses said the men were struck separately with a rattan cane as onlookers gathered to watch.
Aceh is the only region in Indonesia that enforces a version of Islamic sharia law, which criminalises same-sex relations, adultery, gambling, and alcohol consumption.
Elsewhere in Indonesia, same-sex conduct is not outlawed.
Officials said the men’s sentences were originally 80 lashes each but were reduced to 76 to account for the four months they had already spent in detention.
According to Banda Aceh sharia police, the pair were arrested in April after being caught together in a public toilet at the same park where they were eventually punished.
“A member of the public saw suspicious people and reported it,” said Roslina A. Djalil, head of law enforcement for Banda Aceh’s sharia police.
The two were among ten people punished on the same day.
Three women and five men also received floggings for offences ranging from sex outside marriage to gambling and being found in close proximity with members of the opposite sex.
Human rights groups condemned the punishment. Amnesty International described it as cruel and degrading, saying same-sex relations should never be criminalised.
“The criminalisation of same-sex conduct has no place in a just and humane society,” said Montse Ferrer, Amnesty’s regional research director.
Despite international criticism, public caning continues to receive strong support in Aceh.
Many residents see it as a traditional form of justice for offences such as adultery, alcohol use, and moral misconduct.
Aceh was granted special autonomy in 2001 as part of a peace deal with separatist groups. Since then, the province has applied sharia law more strictly than any other part of Indonesia.
