Aceh adopts caning penalty

MEULABOH, Aceh: The penalty of caning is now part of the judicial system in the tsunami-hit province of Aceh, whose special autonomy status allows it to adopt sharia.

Caning as a punishment was made official after acting governor Azwar Abubakar signed a bylaw on procedures of the execution of penalties at Bustanul Arifin Mosque in Meulaboh on Friday.

Twenty people who were recently convicted of gambling, adultery and having sex out of wedlock in Bireuen will be the first to receive seven strokes of the cane in public. The verdicts could not be executed, pending the signing of the bylaw.

According to the bylaw, the penalty will be carried out in mosques and shall not cause the convicts to bleed. -- Antara