The shocking punishment took place on Thursday as the 22-year-old man pleaded with Sharia officers in Aceh, Indonesia, to stop the lashing.
As reported by AFP, the man was struck multiple times with a rattan cane as part of his sentence of 100 lashes before he eventually fainted.
Having lost consciousness, he was revived to be given momentary medical attention only for the extreme punishment, known as flogging, to resume.
The man had been found guilty of having sex with a woman outside, who was also sentenced to 100 lashes.
Local media reported a woman who was whipped in a separate case in Aceh Tamiang on Thursday also fainted.
The punishment took place outside a mosque before the man was later rushed to the hospital for treatment.
Usman Hamid, director of Amnesty International Indonesia, said: “The fact that two people were beaten unconscious today, in two separate incidents, is a damning indictment of the authorities who let this happen on their watch.”
He added the “cruel, inhuman and degrading” punishments amount to torture and called on authorities in Aceh and Indonesia to end them.
An onlooker told AFP: “This is the consequence they have to face for violating the law.”
According to reports, a crowd of 500 attended the horrific public flogging and some even shouted chants of “harder, harder”.
Despite international condemnation, public flogging is common for a range of offences banned under local Islamic law in the conservative Aceh region on Sumatra island, including gambling, drinking alcohol, and having gay or pre-marital sex.
Aceh is the only region in Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, that imposes religious law.
In July, three people were flogged 100 times each for having premarital sex, while two men caught having sex with underaged girls were also whipped 100 times last year. Other offences tend to carry dozens or even fewer lashes.
In October, Aceh officials announced that poachers who threaten endangered orangutans, tigers and other wildlife could receive up to 100 lashes under new rules.
Rights groups have slammed public caning as cruel, and Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has called for it to end, but the practice has widespread support among Aceh’s mostly Muslim population.
Other predominatly countries that use judicial corporal punishment include Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen.
Many Caribbean nations and African countries also practice the violent punishment.
