A woman had to be carried away after she and her partner were lashed 100 times each in punishment for having sex outside of marriage. The woman, who has not been named, was caned in Banda Aceh, on the north end of Sumatra island, Indonesia, on Thursday (May 21) after breaking the region’s harsh Sharia.
A person, dressed head-to-toe in brown garb and wearing a white mask, administered the lashes, which also left the woman’s partner grimacing. The couple were among several people who were punished under Sharia on Thursday. They were being punished by the Banda Aceh Sharia Court and Prosecutor’s Office with between 25 and 100 lashes, including those involved in extramarital sex arranged through online apps. Unmarried couples are not allowed to have sex under the draconian laws in the region of Aceh, the only place in Muslim-majority Indonesia to administer Sharia.
Caning is the chosen punishment for a wide range of offences, including gambling, drinking alcohol and homosexual acts. The heaviest punishments under Sharia in Aceh are given to perpetrators of child rape, which carries a sentence of up to 200 strokes of a cane, a prison term of up to 200 months or a fine of the value of up to two kilograms of gold.
The punishments are also carried out in public – often outside mosques or in community squares – to inflict shame as well as pain. Crowds watch and photograph the event. However, human rights groups have said the humiliation adds to the cruelty and causes lasting psychological damage.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have repeatedly condemned the practice, calling it a violation of Indonesia’s constitution and its international law obligations.
“Caning contravenes Indonesia’s constitution and is in clear violation of international human rights law and standards,” Amnesty said in a statement. “It constitutes a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and can amount to torture in violation of the UN Convention against Torture and other international covenants, to which Indonesia is a State Party.”
This latest string of punishments comes after another woman and her partner were each lashed 140 times on the back – 40 for drinking alcohol and 100 times for having sex outside marriage – in one of the harshest punishments seen in the region. On this occasion, the woman also fainted and needed to be escorted to an ambulance.
Muhammad Rizal, the head of Banda Aceh’s Sharia police, said at the time: “As promised, we make no exceptions, especially not for our own members. This certainly tarnishes our name.”
