Jantho, Indonesia. Two people received eight lashes each in Islamic Shariah law-controlled Aceh on Friday after being found engaging in an extramarital kiss.
A crowd of hundreds watched as Anis Saputra, 24, and Kiki Hanafilia, 17, were given eight lashes each at a mosque in Jantho, some 60 kilometers southeast of provincial capital Banda Aceh.
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“The people caught them kissing each other in Aceh Besar district’s forest in October. They were yet to have sexual intercourse when they were caught on Oct. 22,” Deby said, adding that Anis’s wife had been seven months pregnant at the time and had been at her parents’ home in Idi Rayeuk, East Aceh.
He said that initially he had asked for six lashes for each, but the pair were instead sentenced to eight each.
During the caning, Kiki’s head was bowed and she appeared to be attempting to not cry out as the rattan cane struck her back.
Anis, however, broke out in tears as the series of lashes landed on his back.
During the public whipping audience members surrounding the stage called out warnings and insults.
“Now you know what happens when you conduct adultery!” one person said, while another cried out, “You are married but still you wanted to cheat!”
Teungku Samsul, a cleric from Aceh Besar, spoke to the crowd before the lashings began, warning parents that a permissive attitude could lead to casual sex among their children.
“Avoid going on dates because it brings you closer to adulterous acts, which are not allowed by Islam,” Teungku said.
“If two people end up together in a lonely spot, there will surely be a third being — the devil — who will continuously tempt you and get you to stray from Allah’s path,” said Samsul, who is also an officer in the Wilayatul Hisbah, the province’s Shariah Police.
“Today’s lashings are a reminder for all Acehnese not to violate Shariah law,” Deby said. “The lashing is not to torture you, it is to get you to feel shame, as a violator of the Shariah law.”
He added that the pair were guilty of violating the 2003 qanun (Islamic bylaw) on khalwat , or close proximity, which bars Muslims from being alone with a member of the opposite sex they are not married or related to.
Kiki’s uncle, Darwin, who watched his niece’s punishment, said that when his niece and Anis had been caught, Anis had been badly beaten by a group of locals before being rescued by village leaders and the police.
Darwin said he believed the pair’s punishment fit the crime.
“I do not regret that my niece is being lashed up there because what she did was humiliating and spoiled the name of the family and our village. If I had been given the chance to lash the both of them, I would have done much worse,” he said.
“If possible these lashings should not just be done just around the capital city, but in every district and subdistrict, so that people see this and will not dare to break Shariah law.”
Shariah law was first implemented in Aceh in August 2003 after an order by then-president Megawati Sukarnoputri granted the province partial autonomy as part of an attempt to ease separatist tensions.
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