Yahoo – AFP,
Nurdin Hasan, May 23, 2017
The two men received 83 strokes of the cane each after being found guilty of breaking sharia rules in conservative Aceh province (AFP Photo/ CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN) |
Banda Aceh
(Indonesia) (AFP) - Two Indonesian men were caned Tuesday in front of a jeering
crowd as a punishment for gay sex, in a first for the Muslim-majority country
where there is mounting hostility towards the small LGBT community.
The pair
received 83 strokes of the cane each after being found guilty of breaking
sharia rules in conservative Aceh province, the only part of Indonesia that
implements Islamic law.
The men,
aged 20 and 23, were led onto a raised stage outside a mosque in front of a
crowd of thousands, who jeered and booed loudly.
The pair,
whose identities have not been revealed, were dressed in white robes and bowed
their heads as they were whipped by officials wearing brown cloaks and masks
with eye slits.
One of the
men grimaced occasionally and the other showed little emotion.
Before the
caning, Abdul Gani Isa, a member of the Acehnese clerics' council, told the
crowd the caning was "a lesson for the public".
"Lessons
carried out with our sharia law are conducted in a very thoughtful way, are
educational and do not violate human rights," he said.
Their
sentences, which were carried out in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, were
reduced by two strokes of the cane due to time already served in detention.
The caning
took place in conservative Aceh province but gay sex is not illegal
elsewhere
in Indonesia, which has the world's biggest Muslim population
(AFP
Photo/CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)
|
The gay men
were caught together in March by vigilantes who burst into the house where they
were staying.
Shaky phone
footage of the raid that circulated online showed the vigilantes kicking,
slapping and insulting the men, with one of them slumped naked on the ground
during the attack.
Anti-gay
sentiment
Public
caning has long been common for offences such as gambling and drinking in Aceh,
which was given the right to implement sharia law in 2001 as part of a deal
with the central government aimed at ending an insurgency.
The
punishment is carried out with thin rattan canes, with people still clothed
while the strokes are delivered. It causes pain but does not normally inflict
permanent damage, and the canings are as much about public humiliation as
hurting those guilty of breaking sharia law.
Tuesday's
caning was the first time such a punishment has been meted out for gay sex
since a sharia regulation came into force two years ago banning the practice.
Eight other
men and women were publicly caned on the same day after being found guilty of
breaking sharia laws.
Gay sex is
not illegal elsewhere in Indonesia, which has the world's biggest Muslim
population.
While
rights groups have repeatedly expressed alarm over the strengthening of sharia
law in Aceh, many of those living in the staunchly Islamic province support the
rules.
The two men
were sentenced after a trial at a sharia court in Banda Aceh last
week (AFP Photo/CHAIDEER
MAHYUDDIN)
|
Zubaidah, a
20-year-old female college student who watched the couple being punished, told
AFP it was the first time she had witnessed a caning.
"I
wanted to watch it so it could serve as a lesson for me not to commit any act
that violates Islamic teaching," said the student, who like many
Indonesians goes by one name.
"Homosexuality
is a curable disease, it is very forbidden in Islam."
Amnesty
International was among groups that had urged authorities not to flog the men,
decrying the use of caning as a "cruel, inhuman and degrading
punishment".
There has
been a growing backlash against Indonesia's small lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) community over the past year, with ministers, hardliners and
influential Islamic groups lining up to publicly denounce homosexuality.
The caning
comes just two days after police in Jakarta detained 141 men including several
foreigners for allegedly taking part in a gay sex party in a sauna.
Although
homosexuality is not illegal outside Aceh, police said 10 of those arrested at
the party could be charged under the country's tough anti-pornography laws.
The
backlash against the homosexual community began in early 2016, and activists
believe it was triggered by widespread media coverage of a decision in the
United States to legalise same-sex marriage.
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