New female flogger goes into action

The masked woman nervously approaches her target, shuffles into position and unleashes a flurry of lashes - becoming the newest member of the first female flogging squad in Indonesia's Aceh province.

The new recruit initially needed some coaxing to punish the offender - an unmarried woman caught in a hotel room with a man. Such behaviour constitutes a morality crime in Aceh, the only region in the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation that imposes Islamic law - known as syariah.

Those found guilty of breaches are often publicly whipped with a rattan cane."I think she did a good job. Her technique was nice," Banda Aceh syariah police chief investigator Zakwan, who uses one name, told AFP.