85 LASHES FOR GAY COUPLE
Duo sentenced by Aceh syariah court for having sex
ASYARIAH court in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province has sentenced two gay men to public caning for the first time, further undermining the country’s moderate image after a top Christian politician was imprisoned for blasphemy.
The court, whose sentencing yesterday coincided with International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, said the men, aged 20 and 23, would each be subjected to 85 lashes for having sexual relations.
One of the men cried as his sentence was read out and pleaded for leniency. The chief prosecutor, Gulmaini, who goes by one name, said they would be caned next week, before Ramadan starts on May 25.
The couple were arrested in late March after neighbourhood vigilantes in the provincial capital here suspected them of being gay, and broke into their rented room to catch them having sex.
Mobile phone footage that circulated online and formed part of the evidence shows one of the men naked and visibly distressed as he apparently calls for help on his cellphone.
The second man is repeatedly pushed by another man, who was preventing the couple from leaving the room.
The lead judge, Khairil Jamal, said the men were “legally and convincingly proven to have committed gay sex”.
He said the three-judge panel decided against imposing the maximum sentence of 100 lashes because the men were polite in court, cooperated with authorities and had no previous convictions.
“As Muslims, the defendants should uphold the syariah law that prevails in Aceh,” Jamal said.
International human rights groups have described the treatment of the men as abusive and humiliating and called for their immediate release.
Human Rights Watch said last month that public caning would constitute torture under international law.
Indonesia’s reputation for practising a moderate form of Islam has been battered in the past year due to attacks on religious minorities, a surge in persecution of gays and a polarising election campaign for governor of the capital Jakarta, which highlighted the growing strength of hardline Islamic groups. AP