A man and a woman have been publicly spanked in Banda Aceh, Indonesia after being found blameworthy of engaging in sexual relations outside marriage.
The punishment, was executed on Tuesday, in a public park before tens of residents. Each of the offenders received 100 strokes of the cane under the region’s Islamic legal system.
Officials said the action was in line with the enforcement of Sharia law in Aceh, the only province in Indonesia where such laws are applied.
“We implement Islamic law in Aceh, so whenever someone violates it, we have to carry out punishments like the caning we just conducted,” said Rajesh Kana, an official from the local prosecutor’s office.
The pair were among six individuals punished on the same day. Four others received between eight and 29 lashes for offences including physical contact with the opposite sex and alcohol consumption.
During the exercise, one of the women who received 27 lashes reportedly fainted at the final stroke and had to be attended to by paramedics.
Public caning remains a common form of punishment in Aceh for offences such as gambling, drinking alcohol and same-sex relations. In January, another couple was reportedly flogged 140 times each — one of the harshest penalties recorded since the province adopted Sharia law in 2015.
While Indonesia is widely known as the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, it officially recognises multiple religions. However, Aceh continues to stand out for its strict and public enforcement of Islamic law
