Aceh Couple Flogged 140 Times for Adultery, Alcohol

In Indonesia's Aceh province, a man and a woman were publicly flogged 140 times each on Thursday for engaging in sexual relations outside marriage and consuming alcohol, offenses prohibited under the region's Islamic legal code. The punishment, carried out in a public park in Banda Aceh, marked one of the most severe applications of sharia law since the province gained special autonomy in 2001.

The couple, who were not identified in reports, received 100 lashes for the sexual offense and an additional 40 for alcohol consumption, according to Muhammad Rizal, chief of Banda Aceh's sharia police. Witnesses described the pair being struck repeatedly on their backs with a rattan cane as dozens of spectators gathered to watch. The woman collapsed during the flogging and was transported to a hospital by ambulance, while the man endured the full sentence without reported incident.

This incident was part of a larger enforcement action that day, in which six individuals were punished for violating Aceh's Islamic regulations. Among them was a sharia police officer and his female partner, accused of being alone together in a private space; each received 23 lashes. Rizal emphasized the...