TL;DR
- Two men in Indonesia’s Aceh province publicly caned for hugging and kissing.
- Sentenced to 80 lashes each under Shariah law.
- Aceh is the only Indonesian province enforcing Shariah, with harsh punishments for LGBTQ people.
- Human rights groups condemn the punishment as cruel and discriminatory.
- Incident highlights continued persecution of LGBTQ community in the region.
Gay Men Caned for Hugging in Indonesia
In Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia’s most conservative province, two men in their early 20s learned the price of affection. Convicted by an Islamic Shariah court for nothing more than hugging and kissing, the pair were dragged onto a public stage and whipped across their backs with a rattan cane—80 lashes each, their punishment meted out before a crowd of 100.
The case unfolded after residents spotted the men entering a public park bathroom in April. Religious police burst in to find them kissing and embracing. Court records say the two had first connected on a dating app—an all-too-common lifeline for LGBTQ people forced into secrecy in Aceh. Their intimacy was deemed sexual activity, criminal under Aceh’s harsh laws.
A Brutal Spectacle
The caning took place in Bustanussalatin park, where a team of hooded enforcers carried out the sentence. The spectacle was not just a punishment but a show of power. Alongside the two young men, eight others were flogged that day for offenses ranging from adultery to gambling. Under Aceh’s Shariah code, nearly anything can be punished with lashes—drinking alcohol, women wearing tight clothing, even men who miss Friday prayers.
This was far from the first time LGBTQ people were singled out. Since Aceh introduced Shariah law in 2006, several men have been caned for homosexuality. Earlier this year, two more were whipped in the same park for having sex. The province expanded its religious criminal code in 2015, extending its reach even to non-Muslims. With each public caning, Aceh reinforces its message: love between men will be humiliated, beaten, and crushed.
Condemnation from Rights Groups
Human rights advocates are outraged. “Public caning is contrary to Indonesian law and international human rights conventions,” said Maidina Rahmawati of the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform. She called the punishment “inhumane” and politically motivated. Amnesty International went further, labeling the event “a disturbing act of state-sanctioned discrimination and cruelty.” Montse Ferrer, Amnesty’s regional research director, emphasized: “Intimate relationships between consenting adults should never be criminalized.”
But in Aceh, supporters of the punishment frame it as a moral safeguard. “I hope it serves as a lesson and a deterrent,” said a local man who attended the caning. That sentiment reflects the province’s entrenched conservatism, where religious law trumps individual rights and public humiliation is justified as “community protection.”
What It Means for LGBTQ People
For LGBTQ Indonesians, Aceh is a nightmare within a country already riddled with stigma. While national law does not criminalize homosexuality, Jakarta has long turned a blind eye to Aceh’s Shariah system—a concession made in 2006 to quell separatist unrest. That concession, however, came at the expense of LGBTQ lives.
Every public caning sends a message of terror: same-sex affection is not just illegal—it is dangerous. Dating apps, one of the only safe avenues for connection, become evidence in court. The lash of the cane is meant not just to hurt bodies, but to shame identities.
The LGBTQ community worldwide sees Aceh as a chilling reminder of what state-sanctioned discrimination looks like. In a time when global visibility for queer people is growing, Aceh clings to laws that punish love as a crime. The impact stretches beyond Indonesia—emboldening other regimes that view queer existence as something to be erased.
A Call for Change
International pressure has occasionally tempered Aceh’s most extreme laws—Jakarta once intervened to block stoning as a punishment. But caning remains entrenched, even as Indonesia ratifies treaties against cruel punishment. The contradiction is glaring: on paper, the nation rejects inhumanity. In practice, young men are whipped in public for hugging.
For LGBTQ people in Aceh, the struggle is not just about surviving the cane—it is about surviving invisibility. Every blow struck in Banda Aceh reverberates far beyond its borders. It’s a stark warning of how fragile rights can be, and how vital it is to keep fighting for a world where love is never a crime.