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group of amorous couples and sex workers were publicly caned for breaking Islamic law in Aceh on Friday, just a week after the province pledged to move the widely condemned practice indoors.

More than 1,000 people, including dozens of tourists from neighboring Malaysia, jeered and screamed abuse at the group as they were flogged outside a mosque in the capital Banda Aceh before Friday prayers.

The three men and five women — who included several college students — were found guilty of violating religious law by either showing affection in public or for offering sexual services online, officials said.

Aceh is the only province in the country that imposes Islamic law and caning is a common punishment for a range of offenses — from gambling or drinking alcohol to having gay sex or relations outside of marriage.

The conservative region on the northern tip of Sumatra passed a regulation a week ago that would continue to see offenders caned, but behind prison walls. It was not clear when the new rule would come into effect.

The Aceh administration and the Law and Human Rights Ministry signed on Thursday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to implement the new regulation.

Under the MoU, caning will now be conducted in prisons.

The move was in response to a wave of international criticism over the practice, which has included the caning of members of the region’s LGBT community and, in some cases, non-Muslims.

Rights groups have condemned it as cruel and last year President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo called for an end to public caning in Aceh.

Around 98 percent of the province’s 5 million residents are Muslims, subject to religious law, including public caning, which came into practice around 2005.

The new rule has generated protests from conservative groups who see public caning as having a strong deterrent effect on crime.

Deputy Banda Aceh Mayor Zainal Arifin said on Friday’s caning was not an act of defiance against the new rule.

“We understand that the regulation has not yet come into effect and the prison is not yet ready to [host caning] so that is why we are still doing it in public,” he said as quoted by AFP.

“Until the new regulation is officially in place we will carry on as usual.”

Zainal further argued that local authorities had not yet introduced supporting regulations stipulating the technicalities of indoor caning.

“We are committed to standing by sharia,” he emphasized.

Once supporting regulations on the technicalities were issued, he said, the administration would then consult with local ulema.

Amnesty International deplored the latest development in Aceh.

“Caning is an inhuman and degrading form of punishment that may amount to torture, which should never be used in any circumstances. The Aceh authorities’ decision to cane unmarried couples, whose only ‘crime’ was showing affection in public, in front of hundreds of spectators is an act of utmost cruelty,” Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Friday.

According to the group, 47 people have been caned in public in Aceh since January. It further called on the provincial administration to remove caning from its legal books.

Amnesty argues that caning, especially when carried out publicly, can add to the humiliation and long-term suffering of those who are subjected to the punishment.

“It is also high time for the international community to press Indonesia to provide a safer environment for everyone in Aceh. The situation risks deteriorating rapidly unless the local administration is pushed to take its obligations to respect human rights seriously,” Usman said.