Horrific images have emerged of an unidentified woman being caned 23 times in Indonesia’s Aceh province — all because she allegedly broke the province’s strict Islamic laws by standing too close to her boyfriend. The woman was one of 13 people — all between the ages of 21 and 30 — who were publicly flogged on Monday at a mosque. The six couples all stood accused of violating Islamic law by having touched, hugged, or kissed each other without being married.
One of the alleged moral offenders wasn’t accused of committing the crime of touching a woman — his crime was simply having spent time with a woman in a private location. Another of the offenders, a 22-year-old pregnant woman, temporarily escaped caning because she was pregnant. The flogging would still be enacted, they told her, after she had given birth.
The number of canings that occur in Aceh has surged since the region’s adopted a new penal code last year that prescribed caning in cases where “moral offenses” occur. Under the new code, non-Muslims can also be caned for violating Sharia law. [NYTimes.com] Read more
