Camille Naredo

A member of the sharia police holds a rattan stick during a public caning in Banda Aceh on June 4, 2025. Chaideer Mahyuddin, AFP

Article (news)

Banda Aceh

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17561973655501749027054801AFP__20250604__496D8Y8__v1__Preview__IndonesiaReligionCrime.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="A member of the sharia police holds a rattan stick during a public caning in Banda Aceh on June 4, 2025. Chaideer Mahyuddin, AFP"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">A member of the sharia police holds a rattan stick during a public caning in Banda Aceh on June 4, 2025. <em>Chaideer Mahyuddin, AFP</em></span></span></span></div><p>BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Two men were publicly flogged 76 times each in Indonesia&#x27;s conservative province of Aceh on Tuesday after they were found guilty of sexual relations by a court operating under strict Islamic law.</p><p>Gay sex is outlawed in Aceh, which imposes a version of sharia, the Islamic legal code, but it is not illegal elsewhere in the world&#x27;s most populous Muslim majority country.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/1/22/lgbtq-rights-where-does-southeast-asia-stand-1923">LGBTQ+ rights: Where does Southeast Asia stand?</a></div><p>The men were part of a group of 10 who were flogged Tuesday at a park in the provincial capital Banda Aceh for a range of alleged crimes.</p><p>The pair were flogged separately with a rattan stick as a small crowd watched, according to an AFP journalist present.</p><p>Their initial sentences of 80 lashes each were reduced by four for four months spent in detention.</p><p>In April local sharia police found the two men together at a public toilet in the same park where they were later flogged, said Roslina A. Djalil, head of Banda Aceh sharia police&#x27;s law enforcement.</p><p>&quot;A member of the public saw suspicious people and reported it,&quot; Roslina said.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/6/4/couple-publicly-flogged-in-indonesia-for-sex-outside-marriage-1705">READ: Couple publicly flogged in Indonesia for sex outside marriage</a></div><p>Amnesty International condemned the punishment.</p><p>&quot;The criminalization of same-sex conduct... has no place in a just and humane society,&quot; Amnesty&#x27;s regional research director Montse Ferrer said in a statement.</p><p>Three women and five men were also flogged Tuesday after being found guilty of sex outside marriage, being in close proximity to members of the opposite sex, and online gambling.</p><p>Caning retains strong support among Aceh&#x27;s population as a common punishment for offences including drinking alcohol and adultery.</p><p>The region started using religious law after it was granted special autonomy in 2001 as Jakarta tried to quell a long-running separatist insurgency.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>Two men were publicly flogged 76 times each in Indonesia's conservative province of Aceh on Tuesday after they were found guilty of sexual relations by a court operating under strict Islamic law.</p>

Two men were publicly flogged 76 times each in Indonesia's conservative province of Aceh on Tuesday after they were found guilty of sexual relations by a court operating under strict Islamic law.

Two men publicly flogged in Indonesian province for gay sex

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Two men publicly flogged in Indonesian province for gay sex

Agence France-Presse

Published August 26, 2025 04:41 PM PHT

Read More:

Indonesia

religion

Aceh

sharia law

gay sex

Islam

public flogging

homophobia

Amnesty International

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