Amnesty International has labeled Indonesian’s flogging of gay men a “horrifying act of discrimination”.
This week two university students in Indonesia’s Aceh province for having consensual same-sex sexual relations.
Unlike the rest of the country, the Aceh province follows strict Sharia laws. While homosexuality is legal in the rest of the country, there is a growing movement to change the laws, and the countries LGBTIQA+ communities are often targeted by police using other vaguely worded laws that are open to interpretation.
Amnesty International Deputy Regional Director Montse Ferrer said the recent punishment was cruel.
“Indonesia’s flogging of two gay men is a horrifying act of discrimination. Intimate sexual relations between consenting adults should never be criminalized, and no one should be punished because of their real or perceived sexual orientation.
“Having already had their privacy brutally invaded when they were ambushed by members of the public while having sex, these men were then humiliated in public today and physically harmed.
“These flogging punishments are cruel, inhuman and degrading, and may amount to torture. Aceh and Indonesian central government authorities must take immediate action to halt these practices and revoke the bylaws that allow them to take place.” Ferrer said.
“Such laws must be brought in line with international human rights law and standards, and with Indonesia’s obligations under its own Constitution. Aceh’s regional autonomy, which is its basis to apply Sharia law, must not come at the expense of human rights.”
One of the men was flogged 77 times while his partner received a slightly higher punishment of 82 lashes for providing a place for their consensual sexual activities. The men were aged 18 and 24.
According to media reports, the two were seized on 7 November 2024 by locals who forcefully entered their rented room in Banda Aceh and later took them to the Sharia police for investigation.
Citizen’s arrests are common in Aceh due to the implementation of Sharia law, which allows locals to turn people over to the Sharia police for investigation. Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that criminalizes consensual same-sex acts.
Sharia bylaws have been in force in Aceh since the enactment of the province’s Special Autonomy Law in 2001 and are enforced by Islamic courts.
These laws in some cases provide for up to 200 lashes as punishment for offences including consensual intimacy or sexual activity for unmarried couples, consensual sex outside marriage, same-sex sexual relations, the consumption and sale of alcohol, and gambling.
Under international human rights law all forms of corporal punishment are prohibited as they constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and often torture.
This year so far, 15 people have been sentenced to flogging in Aceh for various violations under Sharia law, in addition to a total 135 individuals receiving similar punishments in 2024. On the day that the two men were caned over their relationship, another two men were punished for gambling.
In a separate case, on 4 February 2025, Sharia police in the city of Lhokseumawe, Aceh, raided a house and arrested four men who they claimed were engaged in same-sex relations after receiving a tip-off from locals. After the arrest, local officials in Aceh said that they would patrol the province to monitor “LGBTI activities”, including in beauty salons where many transwomen make a living in Aceh.
Subsequently, on 15 February, locals raided a rented room in Banda Aceh, turning one transwoman and a man over to Sharia police for investigation.
