Authorities in Indonesia’s Aceh province have carried out another round of public caning, with a couple receiving 100 lashes each for engaging in premarital sex.
The punishment took place on Tuesday in Banda Aceh, where residents gathered to watch as officials enforced the region’s strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Aceh remains the only part of Indonesia where Sharia law is applied, criminalising sexual relations outside marriage.
The unnamed couple were caned with a rattan stick in front of onlookers, as part of a broader enforcement exercise involving six offenders.
ALSO READ: Buhari’s son, Yusuf, declares interest in House of Reps seat
“We implement Islamic law in Aceh, so whenever someone violates it, we have to carry out punishments like the caning we just conducted,” Rajesh Kana, an official from the local prosecutors’ office, told AFP.
Four other individuals received lighter sentences ranging from eight to 29 lashes for offences including alcohol consumption and physical contact with the opposite sex.
During the exercise, a woman sentenced to 27 lashes collapsed after the final stroke and was attended to by paramedics.
Public caning continues to receive support in the province, where it is also used to punish offences such as gambling and same-sex relations.
Earlier in January, Sharia police in Aceh carried out a harsher sentence, flogging an unmarried couple 140 times each — one of the most severe punishments since the law came into force in 2015.
Indonesia, while predominantly Muslim, officially recognises six religions and indigenous belief systems.
(AFP)