Trending 
Islamic authorities in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province on Thursday publicly flogged two women and two men for engaging in sex outside marriage, an AFP reporter witnessed.
The punishment was carried out under the province’s Islamic legal code, which criminalises sexual relations between unmarried individuals.
Dressed in white, the four convicts winced and cried out as they each received 100 lashes with a rattan cane in a public park in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, while dozens of residents looked on.
The head of Aceh’s Islamic enforcement unit, Muhammad Rizal, said the women were identified as sex workers while the men were their clients.
“The women are sex workers, and the men are their customers,” Rizal said.
Five other people were also caned during the session, receiving between nine and 23 lashes for offences including being in close proximity with members of the opposite sex and consuming alcohol.
Although corporal punishment is not part of Indonesia’s national legal system, it remains widely enforced in Aceh under its special autonomy arrangement, which allows the province to implement Islamic law.
Caning is used in the province to punish offences such as gambling, alcohol consumption and same-sex relations, and continues to receive public support locally.
In January, unmarried couples were also publicly flogged 140 times each in a similar enforcement exercise, showcasing the province’s strict interpretation of Sharia-based regulations.
