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Hundreds caned under sharia in Aceh
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A man is caned in public for engaging in same-sex relations in Banda Aceh, Aceh in this file photo. (JP/Hotli Simanjuntak)
M
ore than 530 people have been caned under Aceh’s Islamic law since its enactment on Oct. 23, 2015, including dozens of men and women who were punished for victimless crimes like kissing, fornication and sodomy.
The implementation of corporal punishment in the province, which has been granted autonomy to devise its own criminal law, has been met with condemnation from civil society groups who argue that such punishment is too harsh for petty crimes.
In a press conference at the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (LBHI) office in Jakarta, human rights activists called on the Acehnese government and the central government to review the province’s Islamic criminal code qanun jinayat (bylaw).
The bylaw was enacted two years ago as a result of the 2005 peace agreement between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Helsinki that Aceh would be allowed to have its own law.
The Jakarta-based Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) recorded that at least 339 people were punished by caning in 2016 for various offenses, mostly related to morality.
Maisir (gambling) was the highest offense of all, with 261 people — 259 men and two women — being caned, followed by ikhtilat with 21 people, 10 men and 11 women. Meanwhile, 20 people — 11 men and nine women — were caned for khalwat (being in an enclosed area with a person of the opposite sex outside the bonds of marriage).
From January to September this year, 188 people were caned, according to the ICJR, which actively monitored the implementation of corporal punishment.
