Latest news with #Banda Aceh
The Independent
20 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Islamic court in Indonesia sentences 2 men to public caning over sexual acts
An Islamic court in Indonesia 's conservative Aceh province on Monday sentenced two men to public caning, 80 times each, after Islamic religious police caught them engaged in what the court deemed were sexual acts: hugging and kissing. The trial at the Islamic Shariah District Court in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, was held behind closed doors. Judges have the authority to limit public access in such a case and open it only for the verdict. The two men, aged 20 and 21, were arrested in April after residents saw them entering the same bathroom at Taman Sari city park and reported it to police patrolling the area. The police broke into the toilet and caught the men kissing and hugging, which the court considered to be a sexual act. The lead judge, Rokhmadi M. Hum, said the two college students were 'legally and convincingly' proven to have violated Islamic law by committing acts that lead to gay sexual relations. The court didn't publicly identify the men. Prosecutors previously sought 85 strokes of the cane for each, but the three-judge panel decided on what they described as lenient punishment because the men were outstanding students who were polite in court, cooperated with authorities and had no previous convictions. The judges also ordered the time they have served to be deducted from their sentence. It means the number of lashes will be reduced by four as they have been detained for four months. The prosecutor, Alfian, who like many Indonesians uses only a single name, said he was not satisfied with the lighter sentence. But he said he will not appeal. Aceh is the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia allowed to observe a version of Islamic law. It allows up to 100 lashes for morality offenses including gay sex. Caning is also punishment for adultery, gambling, drinking and for women who wear tight clothes and men who skip Friday prayers. Indonesia's secular central government granted Aceh the right to implement the law in 2006 as part of a peace deal to end a separatist war. Aceh implemented an expansion in 2015 that extended the law to non-Muslims, who account for about 1% of the province's population. Human rights groups have criticized the law, saying it violates international treaties signed by Indonesia protecting the rights of minorities. Indonesia's national criminal code doesn't regulate homosexuality. Monday's verdict was the fifth time that Aceh has sentenced people to public caning for homosexuality since the Islamic law was implemented. In February, the same court sentenced two men to public caning up to 85 times for gay sex after neighborhood vigilantes in Banda Aceh suspected them of being gay and broke into their rented room to catch them naked and hugging each other. ___
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Sharia court sentences men to public caning after they were caught kissing
A sharia court in Indonesia has sentenced to men to public caning 80 times each after they were caught kissing. Their trial at the Islamic Shariah District Court in Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia's conservative Aceh province, was held behind closed doors. The sentence was handed down on Monday. In Aceh, judges have the authority to limit public access to a trial if the case relates to adultery and open it only for the verdict. The pair, aged 20 and 21, were arrested in April in Taman Sari city park. Locals had seen them entering the same bathroom at the park and alerted the sharia police, who were patrolling the area. The religious police broke into the toilet and caught the men kissing and hugging each other. The court considered that the men were engaged in a sexual act. Aceh is considered more devout than other areas of Muslim-majority Indonesia. It is the only province allowed to observe a version of Islamic sharia law. Monday's verdict was the fifth time that Aceh has sentenced people to public caning for homosexuality since the law was implemented in 2015. That was a concession made by the government to end a long-running separatist rebellion. Indonesia's national criminal code does not regulate homosexuality. The central government also does not have the power to strike down sharia law in Aceh. In February, two men, aged 24 and 18, were publicly caned in Banda Aceh's Bustanussalatin city park for engaging in gay sex. The punishment, carried out by five enforcers in robes and hoods, involved lashes across their backs with breaks for water and medical treatment after 20 strokes, media reports said. A sharia court sentenced them to 85 and 80 lashes, but they received 82 and 77 strokes after a remission for time served. One of the men was so weak after the final lash he reportedly had to be carried. Amnesty International called the punishment a 'horrifying act of discrimination' against the men. 'Intimate sexual relations between consenting adults should never be criminalised, and no one should be punished because of their real or perceived sexual orientation,' Amnesty's deputy regional director Montse Ferrer said.
