100 Strikes with a Stick: A Couple in Indonesia Was Publicly Punished for Sex Outside of Marriage (6 photos)

In Indonesia, lovers were subjected to 100 lashes with a cane for having sex outside of marriage. The court found the couple guilty of violating strict Islamic laws.





Aceh is the only province in Indonesia where Sharia law is in force and public flogging is practiced.



The couple were paraded before a crowd in a park in the central Banda Aceh province. The man and woman were each given 100 lashes with a rattan stick by Sharia police. Three other convicts were given a total of 49 lashes for gambling and drinking.

"Today, Banda Aceh is punishing those guilty of adultery, drunkenness and gambling. This will be an important lesson for the whole society. The flogging will pave the way for them to repent," Iliza Mayor Saaduddin Jamal told reporters.

The convicts were later given medical treatment.





In February, two men were lashed more than 150 times after being found guilty of homosexual acts, which are illegal in Aceh.

The region was granted autonomy in 2001 as the government tried to suppress a decades-long separatist movement. Since then, Aceh has applied religious law.