Two men have reportedly been arrested in Aceh, Indonesia and charged with having gay sex.

Homosexuality has never been illegal in Indonesia, but the province of Aceh operates under a Islamic Sharia law.

The two men arrested recently were detained by police after a mob of people who suspected they might be gay broke into their residence. After detaining the men, the group called the religious police.

Police seized condoms, a mattress and mobile phones from the two men as evidence.

Police have told local media that one of the men had already confessed to the charges. If found guilty each of the men could face up to 100 lashes.

Graeme Reid, director of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights program at Human Right Watch said the police should be protecting minorities from vigilante groups.

“These vigilante raids and arbitrary detentions underscore the abusive and discriminatory nature of Aceh’s criminal code,” Reid said. “Acehnese authorities should release the four and protect the public from marauding vigilantes who target vulnerable minorities.”

Aceh is the only one of Indonesia’s 34 provinces that can legally adopt bylaws derived from Islamic Sharia. In 2014, Aceh’s parliament passed the Islamic Criminal Code, which includes discriminatory offenses that are not crimes elsewhere in Indonesia. Consensual sex between two people of the same sex, for example, is punishable in Aceh by up to 100 lashes.

In 2017 two men were publicly caned 83 times after they confessed to having gay sex.

Last month an official in Aceh suggested that tougher capital punishment was needed for some crimes, and suggested beheading might be brought in for people found guilty of murder. Indonesia currently has the death penalty for murder and drug offences, executions are usually conducted by firing squads.

OIP Staff