Two gay men in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province were given ‘medieval’ punishment. They were caned 77 times publicly after vigilantes raided their home and caught them having sex. Except for Aceh, homosexuality is not illegal in Indonesia. But, the province of Aceh is governed under Islamic Sharia law. And homosexuality is anathema to Islam. The men were caned at Banda Aceh’s Tamansari city park. This is the third instance in Aceh, where people engaging in a homosexual act have been caned publicly. The men were arrested in November after suspicious neighbours stormed into their rented room.
Islamic law was implemented in Aceh in 2015 as a concession made by the government to end a long-running separatist rebellion. The LGBT community, that constantly faces discrimination, chooses to lay low in Indonesia.
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The caning was watched by dozens of people. The men pleaded for mercy as they were being caned and the mother of one of the men fainted as she watched, AFP reported. Other offences that could end in caning as a punishment include adultery, drinking alcohol and women wearing tight clothes.
Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Right Watch’s Asia division, told AFP, “The authorities must be universally condemned for this brutal, absolutely medieval punishment for an act that should never have been criminalised in the first place,” he said. Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, has failed to stop such abuse, he added.
