Two men, woman caned in Aceh for sexual offences
LHOKSEUMAWE, INDONESIA Three people were publicly whipped 100 times each in Indonesia's deeply conservative Aceh province on Wednesday, with one woman pleading for the masked syariah officer to stop because she could not bear the pain.
Dozens of people watched as the two men and one woman were caned in a stadium in Lhokseumawe, some 274km from the provincial capital Banda Aceh.
Flogging is used as punishment for a range of offences in the region at the tip of Sumatra island, including gambling, drinking alcohol, and having gay sex or relations outside of marriage.
On Wednesday, a 22-year-old woman and her boyfriend, who is also 22, received 100 strokes each after they were caught having pre-marital sex.
The woman broke down several times due to the pain, forcing the syariah officer to stop the caning until she was cleared to continue by a doctor.
A 19-year-old boy was also whipped with a rattan cane for having sex with a minor.
His white shirt was soaked with blood by the end of the thrashing, an AFP reporter said.
The teen will now serve five years in prison, while the couple will walk free.
Over in Bandah Aceh yesterday, 11 more people were whipped. The six men and five women were rounded up by religious officers who caught them behaving amorously, a crime under local law. - AFP
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