What was once frowned upon has been accepted by many cultures, but some religions still recognise it as punishable by law – pre-marital sex.
On Friday (5 June), two Indonesians were whipped 100 times each after they were caught having pre-marital sex in Aceh province, the only region in Indonesia to impose Islamic law.
The Islamic law allows whipping for charges like gambling, adultery, alcohol consumption and gay sex.
Despite the Covid-19 outbreak in the country, local officials insisted that the offenders be punished, saying that they have taken adequate safety measures to prevent infections, reported SCMP.
The couple’s temperatures were taken and they wore face masks before they were flogged with a rattan cane outside a mosque in the western side of Sumatra.
The man’s whipping had to be paused as the pain was too much for him to bear. A second flogger was then brought in to finish the heavy lashing on the woman.
āThis young couple deserved a hundred lashes because they violated Islamic law,ā said Agus Kelana Putra, head of general crime division at the prosecutorās office in Aceh Besar district.
Such events are usually attended by hundreds, but only dozens showed up due to fears of Covid-19.
āNot so many people came today because theyāve seen it many times before ā or theyāre afraid of Covid-19,ā local resident Faisal said.
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