US EditionIndonesia’s Aceh Province Publicly Flogs Two Men for Same-Sex Relations
The men were sentenced by a Sharia court for hugging and kissing in a public park bathroom, receiving 76 lashes each under Aceh's Islamic Criminal Code, which criminalizes consensual same-sex acts.
- On August 26, 2025, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, two young men, aged 20 and 21, were caned in public after an Islamic Shariah court found them guilty of hugging and kissing in a park restroom.
- Aceh expanded its Islamic bylaws in 2015 to apply Shariah law, including corporal punishment for morality offenses such as consensual same-sex acts, despite past central government pressure.
- Following reports from local residents, police apprehended the men at Taman Sari city park in Banda Aceh after discovering them embracing in a shared bathroom; the case was subsequently handled by a Shariah court.
- Each man was publicly caned 80 times by hooded officials in front of roughly 100 onlookers, while Amnesty International denounced the punishment as an alarming example of government-approved cruelty and unjust treatment.
- Human rights groups called for halting public caning and repealing discriminatory bylaws, noting these practices violate Indonesian laws and international human rights standards against cruel punishment.
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38 Articles
Ten people were publicly flogged in the Indonesian province of Aceh on Tuesday for violating Islamic sharia law. In addition to adulterers and gamblers, the men also included two men who had hugged and kissed each other, the AP reported. Amnesty International called the punishment a disturbing act of state-sanctioned discrimination and cruelty.
Philstar Global
The Straits TimesTwo men publicly flogged in Indonesia for gay sex
Two men were publicly flogged 76 times each in Indonesia's conservative province of Aceh on Tuesday after they were found guilty of sexual relations by a court operating under strict Islamic law.
Activists condemn public flogging of two men under Indonesia’s Islamic criminal law
Amnesty International on Tuesday condemned the public caning of two men in Indonesia’s Aceh province after they were convicted of same-sex relations under Islamic criminal law. Aceh, located on the northern tip of Sumatra island, is Indonesia’s only province that criminalizes consensual same-sex acts. Under its special autonomy status, Aceh enforces qanun jinayat, Islamic criminal bylaws introduced in 2015 that criminalize adultery, gambling, al…
Men publicly caned by Indonesian Islamic court for hugging and kissing
Two men in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province were among a group of people publicly caned on Tuesday after an Islamic Shariah court convicted them of violating Islamic law by hugging and kissing, which the court ruled can lead to banned sexual relations.
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