Indonesia canes 'flirty' unmarried couples for showing affection in public

Several unmarried couples, accused of flirting, and two women accused of being prostitutes have been caned in front of large crowds in the deeply conservative Indonesian region of Aceh.

Those watching reportedly filmed the canings with mobile phones.

However, the canings could be the last carried out before large crowds after the province’s governor announced earlier this month that the punishments would be moved indoors.

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.

The women accused of prostitution were caned 11 times each.

One of the women held up her hand after the fifth lash, signalling the pain was too intense. She was given a drink and the strokes resumed despite her evident discomfort.

The six young people accused of flirtatious behaviour received between 11 and 22 strokes.

They were said to have shown affection in public.

Shariah police wanted to convict them of adultery, which would have resulted in a greater number of lashes, but lacked enough witnesses.

Some residents of Aceh, the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia to impose Shariah law, are opposed to having the canings performed inside prisons.

About a thousand people protested outside the Banda Aceh mayor’s office on Thursday.

They said hiding the canings would reduce the deterrent effect.

Aceh, located at the very tip of Sumatra, was the first Indonesian region to adopt Islam, in the eight century.

Its implementation of Sharia law was a concession made by the central government in 2001 as part of efforts to end a decades-long war for independence.

Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, with more than 225 million followers, mostly Sunni.