A couple was publicly flogged in Indonesia’s staunchly Islamic Aceh province on Tuesday for having sex outside of marriage, an AFP reporter witnessed, in the country’s only region to apply a version of Sharia law. The man and woman, whose ages were not disclosed, received 100 cane lashes each in a public park in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, with dozens of people watching. Police flogged the pair with a rattan cane, according to an AFP reporter at the scene. Caning retains strong support in Aceh to punish a range of offences that also include gambling and gay sex. In January, Sharia police in Aceh caned an unmarried couple 140 times each — likely the severest punishment since Sharia law was implemented in the province in 2015.

Source: Punch April 07, 2026 11:45 UTC