Kamal Ghorui
A couple in Indonesia’s Aceh province were publicly caned 140 times each for having sex outside marriage and consuming alcohol, in what is believed to be one of the severest punishments since the region implemented Sharia law, AFP reported.The man and woman were struck on their backs with a rattan cane in a public park as dozens of people watched. The woman fainted after enduring her punishment and was escorted to an ambulance. Muhammad Rizal, head of Banda Aceh’s Sharia police, told AFP that the couple received 100 lashes for sexual relations outside marriage and 40 for drinking alcohol. The couple was among six people punished for breaking the Islamic code, including a Sharia police officer and his female partner, who were caught in close proximity in a private place and received 23 lashes each. Rizal said, “As promised, we make no exceptions, especially not for our own members. This certainly tarnishes our name.”Aceh is the only province in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, to impose Sharia law. Caning is used to punish offences including gambling, drinking alcohol, sexual relations outside marriage, and homosexual acts. In 2025, two men were publicly flogged 76 times each after being found guilty of sexual relations outside marriage.The high number of lashes in this case highlights the continued strict enforcement of Sharia law in Aceh, which gained special autonomy in 2001 and has maintained conservative Islamic regulations despite Indonesia’s broader secular legal system.
