Couple in Aceh, Indonesia receives 140 lashings for premarital sex and drinking alcohol

A couple in Indonesia was caned 140 times each on Thursday for having sex outside marriage and drinking alcohol. The punishment was delivered in Aceh province, the only place in Indonesia where some provisions of Islamic criminal law are enforced. Sexual relations between an unmarried couple are strictly prohibited in the region. According to an AFP reporter who was at the scene, the couple was hit on their backs with a rattan stick in a public park in front of dozens of people. The woman fainted from the beating and was taken to an ambulance. Banda Aceh's Sharia police, Muhammad Rizal, told AFP that the couple received 140 lashings each, of which 100 were for sex outside marriage and 40 for consuming alcohol. Aceh was granted special autonomy in 2001 and implemented Sharia law after that. The number of canings is believed to be the highest since the deeply conservative region adopted Islamic law.

Caning punishment in Aceh, Indonesia

Four more were publicly flogged for breaking the Islamic law. This included a sharia police officer and his female partner, who were caught in close proximity in a private place. Both of them received 23 strikes each. "As promised, we make no exceptions, especially not for our own members. This certainly tarnishes our name," Rizal said. Caning is a common punishment in Aceh and is delivered for several things considered an offence in the region, such as gambling, drinking alcohol, gay sex and having sexual relations outside marriage. Men who miss Friday prayers can also be caned.

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Last year, two men were caught kissing in a public bathroom and were lashed 76 times each after the Sharia court found them guilty of having sexual relations. Indonesia does not consider homosexual relations illegal under its current laws. However, since Aceh was granted autonomy, it has its own Sharia law, and the federal government cannot stop them from inflicting punishments.