Indonesian police make mass arrests over ‘gay party’

JAKARTA (AFP) – Indonesian police have detained 141 men who were allegedly holding a gay party at a sauna, an official said Monday, the latest sign of a backlash against homosexuals in the Muslim-majority country. Officers late Sunday raided a building in the capital Jakarta called Atlantis that houses a sauna and a gym, and halted the event they said was called ‘’The Wild One’’. Pictures circulating online showed topless men sitting crammed in a room next to gym equipment after the police raid. Homosexuality and gay sex are legal everywhere in Indonesia except in conservative Aceh province, but Nasriadi said that 10 of those arrested in the Jakarta raid could be charged under Indonesia’s tough antipornography laws. These include the alleged organizers of the event as well as men suspected of being prostitutes and striptease dancers. Those found guilty of breaking the laws face up to 10 years in jail.