BANDA ACEH, Indonesia – A couple in Indonesia’s Aceh province were publicly caned on Thursday after an Islamic Shariah court convicted them of violating local Islamic law by kissing during a TikTok livestream.
The couple, a 22-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, received 21 lashes each with a rattan cane. The caning, witnessed by over a hundred people, was carried out in Banda Aceh's Bustanussalatin City Park. They were arrested in April after a February 27 livestream of them kissing in a car went viral and led to reports to authorities.
Aceh is the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia that enforces a version of Islamic law. The province was granted the right to implement religious law in 2006 as part of a peace agreement to end a separatist war. In 2015, the law was expanded to apply to non-Muslims, who comprise about 1% of the province's population.
Morality offenses under Aceh's law can result in up to 100 lashes, and punishments also extend to gambling, drinking, tight clothing for women, and men skipping Friday prayers. The couple's original sentence was 25 lashes, reduced to 21 because they had already spent four months in detention. A cell phone and USB drive containing the video evidence were confiscated and are slated for destruction.
On the same day, four other individuals were publicly caned for offenses including online gambling and adultery.
Amnesty International Indonesia has condemned the public caning as a violation of human rights, describing it as cruel, inhumane, and degrading. The organization noted that Indonesia has ratified conventions mandating the abolition of such punishments.
"Such behavior might be considered inappropriate because social media is viewed by people of various age groups, including children. But is it a crime that warrants imprisonment or even caning? That would be excessive," said Usman Hamid, Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia.