Indonesian police arrest 10 women in LGBT+ crackdown

Reports have emerged that ten women were arrested last weekend in Indonesia, accused of ‘being lesbians’.

Reuters have revealed that police arrested the women in West Sumatra, after two of them were found to be kissing in a photo posted to Facebook.

The incident follows a series of arrests and public punishments of LGBT+ people in some regions of Indonesia – despite homosexuality not being against the law in most of the nation.

Padang Police Force said the women were all arrested for suspected “lesbian deviant behaviour”, posting a photo of their arrests to their own Facebook page.

Head of Police Pol Yadrison released a statement revealing that the women were found to be “kissing and cuddling”as if they were “men and women” on social media.

“From this discovery the office finally conducted a search and managed to find the identity and whereabouts of the photo uploader.”

Currently the Aceh region of Indonesia forbids gay sex under Sharia law, though there has been a push for a nationwide ban on homosexual activity over the course of the year.