People use their mobile phones to take pictures as a Shariah law official whips a woman convicted of prostitution during a public caning outside a mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on Friday. (AP photo)BANDA ACEH, Indonesia: Indonesia's deeply conservative Aceh province on Friday caned several unmarried couples for showing affection in public and two women for prostitution before an enthusiastic audience of hundreds. The caning last year of two men for gay sex before a baying mob drew attention to Aceh's increasingly harsh implementation of Shariah law and a wave of condemnation. Some residents of Aceh, the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia to impose Shariah law, are opposed to having the canings performed inside prisons. Its implementation of Shariah law was a concession made by the central government in 2001 as part of efforts to end a decades-long war for independence.

Source: Bangkok Post April 20, 2018 06:45 UTC