One woman and two men received 100 strokes of the rattan as dozens of spectators cheered on in Lhokseumawe, near Indonesia’s Banda Aceh province
A woman cried as she was publicly whipped by a masked sharia officer for having pre-marital sex with her boyfriend in Indonesia’s Banda Aceh province.
The young woman, 22, is seen wincing in pain and begs the officer to stop as she received 100 strokes of the cane while dozens of spectators watched along the sidelines.
Two men and women were flogged at a stadium in Lhokseumawe, some 170 miles from the provincial capital Banda Aceh on Wednesday, as punishment for having sex before marriage.
Flogging is used as punishment for several offences in Indonesia’s Aceh province, including gambling, drinking alcohol, having gay sex or pre-marital sex.
A man and woman faced 100 whips of the rattan after they were caught having pre-marital sex, while a 19-year-old teen was also whipped in separate sentencing for pre-marital sex.
The teenager’s white shirt was soaked in blood by the end of the thrashing and he will now serve five years in jail.
The couple did not receive any sentencing.
The flogging was held in a stadium so children did not have to witness the violent scenes, Fakhrillah, and official from the local prosecutor’s office confirmed.
Indonesia holds the world’s largest Muslim population and Aceh is the only region in the country that continues to impose Islamic law.
The law has been widely criticised by human rights groups and even Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has condemned the practice.
In December, two men who were caught having sex with underaged girls were whipped 100 times each in Aceh.
Earlier in March, five couples were whipped for behaving amorously – which is a crime in the conservative region.
Religious police caught the couples holding hands and in some instances, having sex.
Religious Officer, who goes by the name of Safriadi, said: “We hope in the future there will be no more cases like this – it’s embarrassing.”
