An Aceh woman yells in pain as she is getting caned for adultery.
She had been spending time with a man who is not her husband. “It hurts so bad,” she yells as her tormentor continues to rain lashes at her.
The woman in her early 30s is draped in a white dress and her head is covered even as she is being caned for her ‘offence’.
Her partner, a 32 year old man, was lashed by the law enforcing agencies earlier.
Meanwhile, the crowd cheers lustily as she keeps getting caned outside the mosque.
Adultery is prohibited in Islamic law.
Love outside marriage means getting caned . This punishment is restricted to the Aceh province of Indonesia.
However, this harsh law has not deterred some people from indulging in adultery and gay sex.
Though, Indonesia is an Islamic country, this sort of punishment is not carried out across the island republic and there is a history behind it.
Years of separatist movement in Indonesia forced the Federal government 2001 to acknowledge the supremacy of Islamic laws in the Aceh province of Sumatra island. This came as a compromise to blunt the spread of radical Islamic thought throughout the Indonesian republic.
Some say that the Federal government has bought peace with this concession. Others are not so sure.
Indonesia, however, does not foist Islamic values and practices on its predominantly Muslim population. There is a Hindu minority in the island nation and it goes on with its life quite peacefully.
Getting caned for adultery is an integral part of Islamic laws and many Muslim countries that follow follow this horrific practice. Citizens of Aceh witness such floggings regularly. A few days back a man was sentenced to 22 lashes after being accused of sex outside marriage.
His partner, a woman 2 months pregnant, is awaiting judgement on her ‘crime’.
However, in many such cases, pregnant women escape floggings.