For kissing on TikTok, couple in Indonesia publicly caned
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia: A young couple in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province were publicly caned on July 2 after an Islamic Sharia court found them guilty of breaking Islamic law by kissing during a TikTok livestream.
The court ordered the couple to receive 21 lashes each with a rattan cane for kissing without being married. Around 100 people watched the punishment, which took place on a stage at Bustanussalatin City Park in Banda Aceh. The caning was carried out by people wearing robes and hoods.
The couple, a 22-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, were arrested in April after a video of them kissing in a car during a livestream on February 27 went viral and was reported to local religious authorities.
Aceh is the only province in Indonesia, a mostly Muslim country, that follows Islamic law. The central government allowed Aceh to enforce religious law in 2006 as part of a peace agreement to end a separatist conflict.
In 2015, the law was expanded to include non-Muslims, who make up about one percent of the population. The law allows up to 100 lashes for offenses such as adultery and same-sex relations. It also punishes gambling, drinking alcohol, women wearing tight clothing, and men who miss Friday prayers.
The couple was originally sentenced to 25 lashes, but this was reduced to 21 because they had already spent four months in prison.
The court also took a mobile phone and a USB drive containing the TikTok video as evidence, which will be destroyed.
On the same day, four other people were also publicly caned for online gambling and adultery.
Amnesty International Indonesia criticized the punishment, saying public caning is a violation of human rights because it is cruel and humiliating, even though Indonesia has agreed to international rules against such punishments.
Usman Hamid, the Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia, said that while such behavior may be seen as inappropriate on social media, especially since people of all ages can watch it, punishing it with prison or caning is too harsh.
Source – Indonesia News
