By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Law enforcement officers hold rattan sticks as a man accused of having gay sex waits to be publicly caned in Banda Aceh
Two men were caned under Aceh's law prohibiting same-sex sexual relations even though they weren't caught having sex.
Two men were publicly caned in Indonesia on Tuesday after being found to have engaged in sexual relations — despite not actually having sex.
The men, ages 21 and 20, were caught kissing in a public restroom at the Taman Sari Park in June. Depsite only being seen hugging and kissing, a panel of judges at the Banda Aceh Sharia Court found that they violated the province's laws against same-sex sexual relations, and sentenced them to be caned.
The men's sentence was carried out on Tuesday in a park in the province's capital Banda Aceh. The two were caned 76 and 82 times, with the one accused of instigating the relationship receiving extra lashes, according to an Agence France-Presse reporter who was present.
“This public flogging of two young men under Aceh’s Islamic Criminal Code for consensual sex is a disturbing act of state-sanctioned discrimination and cruelty," Montse Ferrer, Amnesty International’s Regional Research Director, said in a statement. "This punishment is a horrifying reminder of the institutionalized stigma and abuse faced by LGBTQ+ individuals in Aceh. Intimate relationships between consenting adults should never be criminalized. Punishments such as flogging are cruel, inhuman and degrading and may amount to torture under international law."
Related: From Afghanistan to Malaysia, these are the 61 countries that still criminalize homosexuality
Aceh is the only province out of 38 in Indonesia where same-sex sexual relations are criminalized. The 2001 Special Autonomy Law gave Aceh the independence to enforce Sharia law, which was used in 2014 to implement parts of the Islamic Criminal Code outlawing liwath (sodomy), musahaqah (lesbian), and zina (sex outside of marriage). Punishments for gay sex acts include up to 100 lashes and up to 100 months in prison.
Sharia law also permits citizen's arrests, allowing civilians to turn others over to authorities for investigation, as was the case with the men. The amount of lashes for each was reduced based on time spent in detention the past three months.
The law was first used in 2017 against two men accused of having consensual sex. Several others have been sentenced to similar punishments since.
“Indonesia, as a member of the UN Human Rights Council and a state party to the Convention Against Torture, must align its laws – including in Aceh – with its constitutional commitments to equality and non-discrimination," Ferrer continued. "The criminalization of same-sex conduct and corporal punishment has no place in a just and humane society.”
Charlie Kirk DID say stoning gay people was the 'perfect law' — and these other heinous quotes