Overview

• On Aug 26 in Banda Aceh, two men aged 20 and 21 received 76 lashes each after a Sharia court conviction for violating provisions that ban same-sex sexual relations.
• Judges set 80 lashes but reduced the punishment by four to credit roughly four months in detention, and the proceedings were held behind closed doors.
• Local religious police say residents reported the pair in April at a public toilet in Taman Sari Park, where officers said they found them kissing and hugging before making arrests.
• Three women and five men were also caned the same day for offenses including sex outside marriage, being in close proximity to the opposite sex, and online gambling.
• Amnesty International condemned the canings as cruel and discriminatory, urging Aceh and Indonesia’s central government to end public floggings and repeal bylaws permitting corporal punishment.