BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Two young Indonesian men convicted of having a same-sex relationship were publicly caned on Thursday (Feb 27) in Aceh province, prompting calls by Amnesty International for the government to put an end to the practice.

While homosexuality is frowned upon in Muslim-majority Indonesia and members of the LGBTQ community face legal challenges, Aceh is the only province that has criminalised it under Islamic Sharia law and imposes public caning.

The two university students, aged 18 and 24, were flogged at a regional government hall by hooded Islamic religious police officers. The caning was witnessed by dozens of people including their family members.

One received 77 lashes while the other received 82 for providing a place for their sexual activities. They were sent home afterwards. "They were caned after it was proven that they had a same-sex sexual relationship," Roslina A Djalil, the head of Sharia law enforcement in Aceh, told reporters, adding that the men had been turned over to the police by locals.

Reuters was not able to immediately contact the men or their lawyers for comment.

Montse Ferrer, a deputy regional director at Amnesty International, said in a statement that the flogging was "a horrifying act of discrimination. Intimate sexual relations between consenting adults should never be criminalised." She urged the government to take immediate action to revoke bylaws related to flogging. Two other men were caned on Thursday in Aceh for online gambling.

In some cases, the law provides for up to 200 lashes for offences such as sex outside marriage, the consumption and sale of alcohol as well as gambling. Fifteen people have been sentenced to flogging in Aceh for various violations so far this year, according to Amnesty, while 135 people received similar punishment last year.

Source: Reuters