The
Indonesian government must end the use of caning as a form of punishment and
repeal the laws that allow it in Aceh province, Amnesty International said Sunday
after at least 21 people were publicly caned since 12 May.
In Langsa
city, 14 men were caned outside the Darul Falah mosque on 19 May, following the
caning of seven men a week earlier.
All 21 were
found to have violated an Aceh bylaw (qanun) prohibiting gambling and
were given six lashes each as hundreds of people looked on.
“It seems
that Aceh’s authorities are increasingly resorting to public caning in violation
of international law,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific
Director.
“Victims of
caning experience pain, fear and humiliation, and caning can cause long-term or
permanent injuries. The Indonesian government must act to stop these punishments,
which constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and often amount to
torture.”
According to
media reports, at least 16 men and women were also caned in Aceh in 2010.
In addition
to the Aceh bylaws providing for caning, the Aceh Criminal Code (Qanun Hukum
Jinayat) passed by the Aceh parliament in 2009 provides for stoning to
death for adultery and caning of up to 100 lashes for homosexuality.
This code has
not yet been implemented, in part because of intense criticism at local,
national, and international levels.
Amnesty
International called on the Indonesian central government to review all such
bylaws and local regulations to ensure that they conform with international and
Indonesian human rights law and standards.
“Indonesia’s
decentralization process and regional autonomy were supposed to be about
empowering local populations, and should not come at the expense of their human
rights,” said Sam Zarifi.
Aceh’s
provincial legislature passed a series of bylaws governing the implementation of
Shari’a law after the enactment of the province’s Special Autonomy Law in 2001.
Caning was introduced as a punishment carried out by Islamic courts for
offences also including adultery, consumption of alcohol, unmarried adult
couples who are alone in isolation (khalwat) and for any Muslim found
eating, drinking or selling food during sunlight hours in the fasting month of
Ramadan.
Caning
punishments violate the UN Convention against Torture, which Indonesia ratified
in 1998. The Committee against Torture has also raised concerns that people
detained under Aceh’s bylaws are not afforded their basic legal rights,
including the right to legal counsel, and are apparently presumed to be guilty.
