Sharia enforcement: Indonesian couple publicly flogged 140 times each for premarital sex

A couple has been publicly flogged one hundred and forty times in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province after being found guilty of having premarital sex.

According to report, the punishment was carried out on Tuesday in a public park in Banda Aceh, where dozens of residents gathered to witness the caning.

The man and woman, whose identities and ages were not disclosed, each received 100 lashes with a rattan cane.

It was reported that Aceh is the only region in Indonesia that enforces a version of Sharia law, under which sexual relations between unmarried people are prohibited, reports AFP.

“We implement Islamic law in Aceh. So, whenever someone violates it, we have to carry out punishments like the caning we just conducted,” Rajesh Kana, an official from the local prosecutors’ office, told AFP.

According to the report, the pair were among six other individuals punished during the exercise.

“Four others received between eight and 29 lashes for offences including physical contact with a member of the opposite sex and alcohol consumption.

“A woman sentenced to 27 lashes fainted after the final stroke and was treated by paramedics at the scene,” the report stated.

Caning remains widely supported in Aceh and is used to punish offences such as gambling and same-sex relations.

In January, authorities in the province carried out one of the harshest penalties recorded since the introduction of Sharia law in 2015, flogging an unmarried couple 140 times each.

Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, although it officially recognises six religions alongside indigenous beliefs.