Unmarried couples are each publicly flogged 21 times for violating Sharia law in Indonesia

An unmarried couple in Indonesia’s Aceh district have been publicly flogged 21 times for breaking Sharia law after they were caught making love in a parked car.

The couple was found in the harbor area of ​​Ule Lee in the town of Banda Aceh, on the island of Sumatra, according to Sindo News.

The public whipping took place at the Bustanul Salatin complex on Wednesday afternoon.

The woman, RO, 23, and the man, M, 24, who were described as a non-muhrim couple, received 21 lashes, instead of 25.

Footage shows a police officer speaking through a microphone to onlookers while others take pictures.

An Acehnese woman is caned with 21 lashes as an officer describes the procedure through a microphone in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on June 7, 2023

The executioner, or Algojo, is covered from head to foot in a brown cloak-like costume with two eye holes covered by a white mask.

Footage shows the woman and man being led separately to a room before being punished.

As she is beaten onto a blue carpet, the woman, wearing a white burqa, appears to slump forward in pain.

“The two have violated Article 25(1) of Qanun Aceh No. 6 of 2014 in relation to the Jinayat Law, which is to act conscientiously,” the head of the criminal investigation department of the Prosecutor’s Office of Banda Aceh, Isnawati, said in a statement. Banda Aceh.

According to Aceh media outlet Bithe, the car was found parked swaying.

After checking the vehicle, the officer found the couple.

Until now, RO has been held in Lhoknga Prison in Aceh Besar and M in Kajhu Detention Center, Isna said.

Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world.

Aceh is the only one of the country’s 34 provinces that can lawfully adopt statutes derived from Sharia law.

The Proximity Act criminalizes intercourse by unmarried persons of the opposite sex in some circumstances.

Aceh’s sharia police have interpreted the broadly worded sharia-inspired adultery law as prohibiting merely sitting in a “quiet” room and talking to a member of the opposite sex to whom one is not married or related – even without any evidence of intimacy, according to Human Rights Watch.

A woman is punished by a member of the Sharia police for being caught in close proximity to a man in Banda Aceh on June 7, 2023

A woman responds to caning by members of the Sharia police during a punishment after she was caught in close proximity to a man in Banda Aceh

An Acehnese woman is escorted in Banda Aceh, Indonesia on June 7, 2023 as part of a caning sentence of up to 25 lashes for violating Sharia law

Members of the Sharia police escort a woman who is being caned as punishment for being caught in close proximity to a man in Banda Aceh on June 7, 2020.

Members of the Sharia Police escort a man who is being caned as punishment for being caught in close proximity to a woman in Banda Aceh on June 7, 2023

A man is punished by a member of the Sharia police for being caught near a woman in Banda Aceh on June 7, 2023