Caning of two women in Aceh condemned

Caning of two women in Aceh condemned

A leading human rights group on Sunday condemned as "insane" an
Islamic court's caning of two unmarried couples in Aceh province
for drinking alcohol and being alone together after dark.

They were the latest Aceh residents to fall foul of new
regulations that give the staunchly Muslim province the right to
impose a version of Islamic sharia law.

The women fainted after being beaten 40 times on Friday
outside a mosque in Central Aceh, witnesses said. They were taken
to a hospital, but had no serious injuries.

"We protest this insane sentence, and it should be reviewed by
the Supreme Court," said Ifdhal Kasim of the rights organization
Elsham. "It violates Indonesia's constitution that outlaws
corporal punishment, torture and humiliation (of prisoners)."

The four were arrested late at night last month and found
guilty by an Islamic court of violating laws prohibiting the
consumption of alcohol and unmarried couples being together in
private places. It was not clear where they were detained.

The latter law is aimed at preventing premarital sex, seen as
sin in Islam.

Aceh is the only province Indonesia that has implemented
sharia.

The region was granted special autonomy in 2001 from the
central government because of a long-running separatist war. In
August, the government and the Free Aceh Movement signed a peace
agreement in Helsinki, Finland, to end three decades of fighting
since 1976.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has a
policy of secularism. Attempts by religious hard-liners to have
Islamic law -- including corporal punishment -- adopted
nationally have failed.

The first caning in Aceh occurred in June, with the flogging
of 15 men convicted of gambling. --AP