Banda Aceh – A gay couple were punished with a sentence of 76 lashes each in public at Bustanussalatin Park in the Acehnese provincial capital of Banda Aceh on Tuesday August 26. The two men with the initials QH (20) and RA (21) were punished after being arrested by a patrol in the Taman Sari toilet last April.
According to CNN Indonesia's monitoring, the executioner stopped flogging RA several times because he raised his arms and groaned in pain. After being examined by medical officer, the executioner resumed flogging RA's back.
RA fell to the ground, prostrating herself and crying after the final 76th stroke of the cane landed on his back. Medical officials and security personnel immediately helped RA backstage.
In contrast, QH was seen enduring all the lashes from the executioner without complaining of pain.
Earlier, in a verdict by the judges at the Banda Aceh Sharia (Religious) Court, both men were found guilty of violating Article 63 paragraph (1) of Aceh Qanun (Bylaw) Number 6/2014 on criminal law and sentenced to 80 lashes, which was reduced to 76 sentences in lieu of time served in detention.
QH and RA were caught by a Sharia Police patrol in the Taman Sari restroom in Banda Aceh on Wednesday evening April 16. Both were then detained by officers for further legal proceedings.
The head of the Banda Aceh Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) and the Wilayatul Hisbah (WH, morality police), Muhammad Rizal, said that his team will continue to patrol areas with the potential for violations against Islamic law in Banda Aceh.
"We will continue to try to increase patrols to prevent violations of Islamic law in Banda Aceh", said Rizal.
Aside from the gay couple, punishments were also executed against four other convicts for committing the crime of adultery, namely FM, AM, NU and KH, who had been sentenced to 100 lashes each.
Then, the two adultery convicts identified as YU and their partner PU were each lashed five times. A gambling convict identified as MA was lashed 10 times and SD 19 times. (dra/rds)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Pasangan Gay Dihukum Cambuk 76 Kali di Aceh, Ditonton Publik".]
