Two Indonesian men have become the first to be sentenced to public caning after being caught having gay sex.
After eikon reported back in April, the men were caught having sex in late March by a group of vigilantes who raided a boarding house, a spokesman for Aceh’s sharia police said.
Footage of the raid in the provincial capital Banda Aceh that circulated online showed the men, aged 21 and 23, in bed as the gang burst in.
Today a Sharia court in Indonesia’s Aceh province has sentenced the men to 85 lashes each.
This follows a distinct shift to Sharia law in the last few years in this province and proves the worry that Indonesia is slowly regressing its homosexual policies.
Gay sex is not illegal in the rest of Muslim-majority Indonesia and this is its first such conviction. Aceh is the only province where Sharia is in force.
The sentence is due to be carried out next week.
While the judges did not give the maximum punishment of 100 lashes, the sentence is heavier than the 80 lashes asked for by the prosecution.
Public caning sentences have been handed down previously only for gambling and drinking alcohol.
Last Updated on May 18, 2017
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