An Indonesian gay couple was arrested as they were caught having sex. The men were reported to already have received 100 lashing under Sharia’s law. Yet, the Human Rights Watch in Indonesia appealed for their immediate release.
According to The Guardian, Indonesia’s Aceh region is allowed to enforce laws based on religion and authority as it is considered to have a plural democracy. However, it was seen that the government’s action against the two men’s homosexuality to be the province first as the sharia punishment of public lashing was identified to be only given to those who commit adultery.
Fortunately, Human Rights Watch in Indonesia had appealed to the gay couple’s case. The HRW then demanded their release as what the Sharia law punishment was considered to be as torture. Specifically, the received beating of the gay couple with a stick in public was pointed out.
The Indonesian gay couple being punished were mentioned to be at the age of 20 and 24 and was said to have been caught having sex as their home was entered forcefully by unknown men. The video footage of the couple’s arrest was then caught on a cellphone. One of the two men was showed to be distressed as he calls the men arresting them brother and asks them to please stop.
Phelim Kine, deputy Asia division director at Human Right Watch stated that the arrest and punishment of the Indonesian gay couple “underscore the abuse embedded in Aceh’s discriminatory, anti-LGBT ordinances.” “These men had their privacy invaded in a frightening and humiliating manner and now face public torture for the ‘crime’ of their alleged sexual orientation,” he added per Towler Road.
Andreas Harsono, a researcher for Human Rights Watch in Indonesia then further explained that across Indonesia, there are rising discrimination cases witnessed by others in the name of Islam against women and the LGBT community. Kine then added that Indonesia’s President Jowoki should put a stop to Aceh’s discriminatory ordinances to avoid these kinds of arrests.
