Two men sentenced to caning for having gay sex
Aceh province in Indonesia follows strict Shariah law.
Two JAKARTA, INDONESIA — men accused of having sex with each other were each sentenced Wednesday to 85 lashes in public, the first case of people being punished for homosexuality in the Indonesian province of Aceh under a strict version of Shariah law.
The sentences alarmed rights activists, who called the punishment excessive and a dangerous turn of events in Aceh, a semiautonomous province that has imposed a strict version of Shariah, the legal code of Islam.
News reports said that vigilantes had caught the two men naked in bed, and that the two had pleaded not to be reported to the Shariah police. The two were then beaten, an attack recorded on video, and were later taken to a local police station.
“So you don’t like women? Not interested in them anymore?” Marzuki Ali, chief investigator for the Shariah police, asked the men, ages 20 and 23, shortly after they were taken to the police station in March. Cameras recorded his comments.
A total of 339 people were caned in Aceh in 2016 on charges of moral indecency, according to Human Rights Watch.
According to an annual report on state-sponsored homophobia, compiled by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, homosexuality is effectively a crime in 72 countries.
In three — Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen — it is codified as a crime punishable by death, though executions are rare. In five other countries — Afghanistan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — a death penalty for homosexuality is codified under Shariah law, but it has not been put into practice.
Sixty-three countries have nondiscrimination laws that protect gay men and lesbians, and 23 recognize samesex marriage — most recently Finland and Slovenia, which did so this year.
Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that has formally adopted Shariah, and homosexuality is legal in most of Indonesia.
But a nationwide campaign by conservative civil society groups against homosexuality culminated in a major case now before the country’s Constitutional Court, which will decide whether sex outside marriage should be banned throughout Indonesia. A ban on sex outside marriage would effectively ban homosexual sex, as gay marriage is illegal in Indonesia.