After being brutally beaten outside a mosque for allegedly violating Sharia law, the girl had to be rushed to a hospital
Wahyudi Saputra and Nur Elita were caned in public in the front yard of the Baiturrahim mosque in Banda Aceh
Jakarta: A young woman and a man were publically caned in Indonesia’s Aceh province for violating the Sharia law by allegedly being "too intimate" with each other.
Wahyudi Saputra and Nur Elita were caned in public in the front yard of the Baiturrahim mosque in Banda Aceh. Pics/AFP
ADVERTISEMENT
The two university students, 23-year-old Wahyudi Saputra and 20-year-old Nur Elita, were caned for "khalwat" – affectionate contact – in front of a crowd. A crowd cheered as the young couple was struck five times each. Elita was reportedly carried by officials to an ambulance after the punishment.
Four other men were caned for "indecency and gambling", prohibited under Islamic law.
All the victims were punished in the front yard of the Baiturrahim mosque in Banda Aceh, and one onlooker was Deputy Mayor Zainal Arifin.
"Take these punishments as a lesson. What has been done by these convicts should not be taken as an example. And I hope their canings in Meuraxa district today will be the last ever," he said.
Aceh is the only region in Indonesia that implements this system of Shariah law and has done so since 2003 when it was granted special autonomy. Shariah law is still implemented across the Middle East and in ISIS territories.