BANDA ACEH: Two Christian males had been publicly flogged Monday in Indonesia’s ultra-conservative Aceh province for consuming alcohol and playing, in a uncommon occasion of non-Muslims going through a punishment often condemned by rights teams.
The caning comes lower than two weeks after a male couple had been flogged almost 80 instances every for having homosexual intercourse, which is outlawed below native Islamic legislation.
On Monday, the 2 accused acquired 40 lashes every from a masked sharia officer who beat their backs with a stick.
One of them, recognized solely as JF, stated he selected flogging to keep away from a felony prosecution that might have seen him jailed as much as six months.
“The Sharia police gave us choices and we consciously determined to adjust to the Islamic felony code. No one compelled me to decide on it,” he informed AFP.
Aceh is the one province in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation that imposes Islamic legislation.
Non-Muslims who’ve dedicated an offence that violates each nationwide and spiritual legal guidelines can select to be prosecuted below both system.
Flogging of non-Muslims is uncommon, nonetheless, with solely a handful subjected to the punishment in latest years for crimes together with playing and promoting alcohol.
The two Christians had been amongst seven folks publicly flogged in the province on Monday.
The 5 others had been Muslims who had been whipped for adultery and consuming alcohol — each violations of non secular legislation.
Human rights teams have slammed public caning as merciless, and Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has known as for it to finish.
