{"id":7274,"date":"2017-05-19T09:55:40","date_gmt":"2017-05-19T04:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pahichan.com\/?p=7274"},"modified":"2017-05-19T09:55:40","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T04:10:40","slug":"2-men-in-indonesia-sentenced-to-caning-for-having-gay-sex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/2-men-in-indonesia-sentenced-to-caning-for-having-gay-sex\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Men in Indonesia Sentenced to Caning for Having Gay Sex"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Indonesia(Pahichan) May 19\u2014 Two men accused of having sex with each other were each sentenced on Wednesday to 85 lashes in public, the first case of people being punished for homosexuality in the Indonesian province of Aceh under a strict version of Shariah law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The sentences alarmed rights activists, who called the punishment excessive and a dangerous turn of events in Aceh, a semiautonomous province that has imposed a strict version of Shariah<\/a>, the legal code of Islam.<\/p>\n

News reports said that vigilantes had caught the two men naked in bed, and that the two had pleaded not to be reported to the Shariah police. The two were then beaten, an attack recorded on video, and were later taken to a local police station.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you don\u2019t like women? Not interested in them anymore?\u201d Marzuki Ali, chief investigator for the Shariah police, asked the men, ages 20 and 23, shortly after they were taken to the police station in March. Cameras recorded his comments.<\/p>\n

Homosexuality has been illegal in the highly conservative province since 2014, but this is the first time citizens have been punished for it. The maximum sentence for the crime is 100 lashes, but the court sentenced the men to 85 each after they apologized for their actions.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

A total of 339 people were caned in Aceh in 2016 on charges of moral indecency, according to Human Rights Watch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although the timing of the sentencing appears to be a coincidence, Wednesday is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to an annual report<\/a> on state-sponsored homophobia, compiled by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, homosexuality is effectively a crime in 72 countries.<\/p>\n

In three \u2014 Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen \u2014 it is codified as a crime punishable by death, though executions are rare. In five other countries \u2014 Afghanistan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates \u2014 a death penalty for homosexuality is codified under Shariah law, but it has not been put into practice.<\/p>\n

Sixty-three countries have nondiscrimination laws that protect gay men and lesbians, and 23 recognize same-sex marriage<\/a> \u2014 most recently Finland and Slovenia, which did so this year.<\/p>\n

Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that has formally adopted Shariah, and homosexuality is legal in most of Indonesia.<\/p>\n

But a nationwide campaign by conservative civil society groups against homosexuality culminated in a major case now before the country\u2019s Constitutional Court, which will decide whether sex outside marriage should be banned throughout Indonesia. A ban on sex outside marriage would effectively ban homosexual sex, as gay marriage is illegal in Indonesia.<\/div>\n

It is not known when the Constitutional Court will issue a ruling, though there have already been numerous hearings for the case, including one at which a witness suggested that an increased focus on gay rights was the result of a Jewish conspiracy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Andreas Harsono, the Indonesia representative for Human Rights Watch, said the case on Wednesday was unusual, because transgender Acehnese are usually the focus of the province\u2019s efforts regarding gender norms, instead of gays and lesbians.<\/p>\n

\u201cTransgender people can be more easily identified,\u201d he said, and that can lead to punishment by the Shariah police.<\/p>\n

Dede Oetomo, a long<\/a>time leader of the Indonesian gay rights <\/a>movement<\/a>, said that Acehnese activists were \u201call scared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indonesia is a highly decentralized country, and local and provincial governments sometimes adopt laws that are far more conservative than the national government would.<\/p>\n

Until this year, the national government had the right to unilaterally cancel discriminatory local legislation, but the Constitutional Court took away that power this year<\/a>, arguing that it was excessive.<\/p>\n

Activists say the court decision will make it much more difficult for the national government to repeal discriminatory local laws like ones in Aceh.<\/p>\n

The Indonesian government granted Aceh a special right to impose a legal code based on the Quran in 2001, as part of a long-term effort to make peace with the leaders of an Islamic insurgency there.<\/p>\n

Mr. Oetomo said that Acehnese activists told him \u201cto emphasize the repeal of Shariah\u201d in statements to the news media responding to the sentencing. \u201cBut that\u2019s a tall order,\u201d he acknowledged.<\/p>\n

Copy :\u00a0www.nytimes.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Indonesia(Pahichan) May 19\u2014 Two men accused of having sex with each other were each sentenced on Wednesday to 85 lashes in public, the first case of people being punished for homosexuality in the Indonesian province of Aceh under a strict version of Shariah law.
\nThe sentences alarmed rights activists, who called the punishment excessive and a dangerous turn of events in Aceh, a semiautonomous province that has imposed a strict version of Shariah, the legal code of Islam.
\nNews reports said that vigilantes had caught the two men naked in bed, and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":7275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[621,490,3,11],"tags":[971],"class_list":["post-7274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-slider","category-society","category-world","tag-homosexuality"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7274"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7277,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7274\/revisions\/7277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}