In the conservative Muslim province of Aceh in Indonesia, two gay men have been sentenced by an Islamic Shariah court to public caning for having gay sex, the Associated Press reports.

The couple, aged 24 and 18, were discovered by neighborhood vigilantes who broke into their rented room and discovered them naked together.

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The draconian legislation would prohibit displays of “negative behavior or lifestyles that potentially harm the public.”

The pair were arrested on November 7 and put on trial for “morality offenses.”

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The judge leading the trial said that the two college students were “legally and convincingly” proven to have had gay sex and would receive 85 and 80 strokes, respectively.

“During the trial, it was proven that the defendants committed illicit acts, including kissing and having sex,” said the judge, Sakwanah, who goes by a single name like many Indonesians.

“As Muslims, the defendants should uphold the Shariah law that prevails in Aceh,” she added.

The men were outstanding students who were polite in court, cooperated with authorities, and had no previous convictions, the judge said, and therefore would not be subject to the maximum penalty of 100 lashes.

Caning is meted out for a variety of “morality offenses” in Aceh, including gay sex, sex between unmarried people, gambling, alcohol consumption, women who wear tight-fitting clothes, and men who skip Friday prayers.

This is the third caning sentence handed down for homosexuality since Aceh was granted the right to impose Shariah Law as part of a peace agreement with the national government in 2006.

Human Rights Watch reported that authorities in Aceh publicly flogged two gay men 77 times each in 2021 after a mob raided their apartment in November and caught the men having sex before turning them over to police.

In 2017, police arrested 12 transgender women in Aceh and shaved their heads to “make them men.”

While Aceh province’s Shariah Law is extreme in its treatment of LGBTQ+ “offenders,” Indonesia’s laws addressing LGBTQ+ people in general were described as a “human rights disaster” by the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society in Melbourne. 

In 2022, two Indonesian soldiers were kicked out of the army and were sentenced to seven months in jail for having gay sex. In 2020, nine men were arrested at a “gay party” in a Jakarta hotel raid and charged under anti-pornography laws, which can carry a 15-year sentence.

Since Shariah Law was imposed in Aceh, more than 100 people each year have been publicly caned for “morality offenses.”  

Prosecutors and the men’s lawyers said the defendants accepted their sentences and will not appeal.

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