Author: Staff writer | Published: 2 hours ago
A prosecutor displays the rattan rods used for caning in Indonesia. Photo: Hotli Simanjuntak/EPA
A couple in Indonesia was caned 140 times for having sex outside marriage and drinking alcohol, offences that authorities say violate Sharia, or Islamic religious law, according to the BBC.
The media reported that the 21-year-old woman fainted after receiving what authorities described as a record number of strokes during a public caning session in Aceh province.
Three female officers took turns striking her with a rattan cane while she cried. After she collapsed, she was carried off the stage by female officers to an ambulance.
The couple were caned on Thursday along with four others, including an officer from the Islamic police force, who were all found guilty of violating Sharia.
Caning is a common punishment for breaking Islamic law in the religiously conservative province of Aceh, although rights groups have long criticised the practice as cruel.
Under Aceh’s Islamic criminal code, sex outside marriage is punishable by 100 strokes of the cane, while consuming alcohol carries 40 strokes.
