TL;DR
- Two college students in Aceh, Indonesia, sentenced to 80 lashes for hugging and kissing.
- The court claimed the act “leads to gay sexual relations” under Sharia law.
- Arrest followed a tip from residents who saw the men enter a public bathroom together.
- Human rights groups condemn Aceh’s anti-LGBTQ punishments as violating international treaties.
- Aceh is the only Indonesian province enforcing Sharia law on both Muslims and non-Muslims.
Aceh’s Cruel Crusade Against Love
BANDA ACEH — In a chilling throwback to medieval punishment, an Islamic court in Aceh, Indonesia, handed down an 80-lash sentence to two male college students—whose only “crime” was sharing a hug and a kiss. The Sharia Court in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, ruled that the private moment between the two, aged just 20 and 21, amounted to a “sexual act” that could lead to gay sex, a punishable offense under Aceh’s strict Islamic law.
The young men were arrested back in April after local busybodies spotted them walking into the same public bathroom at Taman Sari city park. Instead of minding their own business, they called religious police, who burst in and caught the pair kissing and hugging. What followed was a closed-door trial that culminated Monday in a verdict Chief Judge Rokhmadi M. Hum declared “legally and convincingly proven.” The public caning will be carried out in front of a crowd, in line with Aceh’s long tradition of turning punishment into public spectacle.
“Lenient” in a Land of Cruelty
Prosecutors initially demanded 85 lashes each, but the three-judge panel shaved off a few strokes, citing the students’ “outstanding” academic records, politeness, cooperation, and lack of prior convictions. With four months already served in detention, they’ll each receive 76 lashes—still enough to leave scars, both physical and psychological. Prosecutor Alfian admitted disappointment with the “lighter” sentence but said he wouldn’t appeal.
Aceh, the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia with legal authority to enforce its own version of Islamic law, has used that autonomy to aggressively police morality. The law, expanded in 2015 to also target the province’s tiny non-Muslim minority, carries punishments of up to 100 lashes for “offenses” ranging from gay sex to gambling, drinking, and even women wearing tight clothes.
A History of Public Humiliation
This is far from Aceh’s first public caning for homosexuality—Monday’s ruling marks the fifth such case since the Islamic code took effect. Earlier this year, two other men endured up to 85 lashes after vigilantes broke into their rented room and found them naked and embracing. Human rights groups have slammed these punishments as degrading, archaic, and in violation of treaties Indonesia itself has signed. Notably, the country’s national criminal code does not outlaw homosexuality—meaning Aceh’s anti-LGBTQ campaign is an extreme local exception.
The LGBTQ Toll
Beyond the physical brutality, these sentences send a chilling message to Aceh’s queer community: you are not safe, even in private moments. The law weaponizes neighbors, police, and courts to surveil and punish intimacy, driving LGBTQ people deeper underground. For global advocates, the case underscores why international pressure is critical to challenge discriminatory laws and protect basic human dignity.
As the rest of Indonesia grapples with modernizing laws, Aceh remains locked in a cycle of state-sanctioned shame. For the two young men now facing the cane, their future is forever altered—not by love, but by the intolerance of those who fear it.