Woman caned for standing too close to her boyfriend in Indonesia

A young woman screamed in pain as she was caned in front of a jeering crowd in Indonesia’s Aceh, the latest person to be punished for breaking the province’s strict Islamic laws. Aceh is the only province in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country that imposes sharia law. People can face floggings for a range of offences – from gambling, to drinking alcohol, to gay sex. The woman was among 13 people – seven men and six women aged between 21 and 30 – who were caned Monday at a mosque in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, as a baying crowd cheered the spectacle. Six couples were found guilty of breaking Islamic laws that ban intimacy, such as touching, hugging and kissing, between unmarried people. A man was caned for a less serious offence described as spending time with a member of the opposite sex in a hidden location in a fashion that could lead to adultery. One 22-year-old woman due to be flogged was given a temporary reprieve as she was pregnant – but Aceh Deputy Mayor Zainal Arifin pledged: ‘The punishment will be handed down after she gives birth.’ | Metro News via IFTTT

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