A couple in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province was publicly caned on Thursday after being convicted of violating local morality laws for an alleged kiss captured on a TikTok livestream. The 22-year-old man and 25-year-old woman each received 21 lashes, according to the Associated Press.
The couple, who were detained in March, had already spent four months in prison, which reduced their sentence from an initial 25 lashes. Authorities stated that the couple filmed a video inside a car in March, and the subsequent livestream led to their apprehension for what officials described as an "immoral act."
"Their actions were uncovered thanks to reports from residents who were disturbed by their immoral livestream content," Sharia police said in April. "The trigger was their livestream on TikTok while engaging in immoral acts in the car," Muhammad Rizal, head of the Sharia Police, added. "This sparked criticism from netizens and local residents, who then reported them to the authorities."
The court also confiscated a cellphone and a USB flash drive containing the video, which authorities plan to destroy.
A local resident attending the caning, Aini Nadhirah, told the AP that she believed the punishment was "entirely justified" and served as a warning to others in Aceh about social media use.
Aceh is the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia that enforces its own Islamic Criminal Code. The province was granted the right to implement Islamic law around 2005 as part of a peace agreement to end a separatist insurgency. The law has since been expanded to apply to non-Muslims.
Under Aceh's law, moral offenses such as adultery and same-sex relations can be punishable by up to 100 lashes. Caning is also used for offenses including gambling, drinking, adultery, and premarital intimacy.
Public caning in Aceh has drawn criticism from human rights groups, including Amnesty International Indonesia, which has labeled the practice as cruel and degrading. Despite Indonesia ratifying international conventions against cruel punishment, local authorities in Aceh maintain that the practice does not fall under that definition.
