A man and a woman were publicly flogged a total of 140 times in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Thursday after being found guilty of having sex outside marriage and consuming alcohol.
The punishment, carried out by sharia police in Banda Aceh, is believed to be one of the harshest imposed in the deeply conservative region since Islamic law was introduced more than two decades ago.
The couple was caned with a rattan stick in a public park as dozens of residents looked on. An AFP journalist who witnessed the scene reported that the woman collapsed during the punishment and was later taken away in an ambulance.
According to the head of Banda Aceh’s sharia police, Muhammad Rizal, the pair received 100 lashes for engaging in sexual relations outside marriage and an additional 40 strokes for drinking alcohol.
Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that enforces a version of Islamic law, under which sexual relations between unmarried couples are strictly prohibited. The region adopted sharia after being granted special autonomy in 2001.
Officials said the punishment ranks among the highest number of lashes handed down since the implementation of sharia in the province.
The couple was part of a group of six people punished on the same day for violating Islamic codes. Among them was a sharia police officer and his female partner, who were caught together in a private location. That pair received 23 lashes each.
Rizal stressed that enforcement applies to everyone, including law enforcement officers.
“As promised, we make no exceptions, especially not for our own members. This incident certainly damages our reputation,” he said.
Public caning continues to enjoy strong support in Aceh and is used to punish offences such as gambling, alcohol consumption, same-sex relations and sex outside marriage.
Last year, two men were publicly flogged 76 times each after being convicted by a sharia court for engaging in sexual relations.
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