Man collapses as he is caned 'for having sex outside of marriage' in Indonesia

Pictures emerging from Indonesia show a religious officer publicly caning a man for having sex with a woman who was not his wife.

The man collapsed and was carried off the stage, set up outside a mosque in Banda Aceh, by several police officers.

A woman was also caned for having sex outside of marriage, which is against sharia law, after being forced to get to her knees in front of hundreds of people.

She is seen weeping and covering her face as she is being lashed.

Both were sentenced to 26 lashes for the accused crime.

Aceh is the only province in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country that imposes sharia law.

Islam is the dominant religion in Aceh and people can face floggings for a range of offences - from gambling, to drinking alcohol, to gay sex.

Because Islam make up the overwhelming majority of Aceh’s population – over 98 per cent of the population of four million identify as Muslims – the public largely accepted Sharia in 2014.

However human rights groups are concerned about religious freedoms in the region.