INDONESIA : A couple in Indonesia has been sentenced to 140 lashes in public for having sex outside of marriage and drinking alcohol. According to authorities, the couple was publicly flogged 140 times in the Indonesian province of Aceh. The 21-year-old woman was knocked unconscious while being flogged. Three female officers took turns whipping her with a “willow stick” while she cried. The couple was sentenced on stage in front of a large crowd. After falling unconscious, the woman was carried off the stage and taken to hospital in an ambulance. The sentence was handed down on Thursday, with the couple and four other people also being flogged. Among those sentenced was an officer from the Islamic police force who was found guilty of violating Sharia law. An Islamic police force officer was flogged 23 times, along with his female companion, after they were found together in isolation in a house. The head of the Islamic Police, Muhammad Razal, told BBC Indonesian that the officer in question would also be dismissed from the force. Public flogging is common in the Indonesian province of Aceh for violating Sharia law, but human rights organizations describe the practice as “cruel.” According to Aceh’s Islamic criminal law, having sex outside of marriage is punishable by 100 lashes, while drinking alcohol is punishable by 40 lashes. “The rules and procedures for caning are not properly enforced,” says Azhar Alhasna, provincial coordinator for the human rights group Contras in Indonesia. “These laws need to be improved so that victims can be supported after the punishment.” It should be noted that Aceh is the only province in Indonesia where Islamic Sharia law is enforced, and many crimes are punished by public flogging.
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