Gamblers sentenced to flogging

Gamblers sentenced to flogging

An Islamic sharia court in the staunchly-Muslim province of Aceh has sentenced seven men to a public lashing for petty gambling offenses, a report said on Sunday.

The seven men from Pulo Kiton village in Bireuen district protested the verdict, with one of them saying that their detention for the last two months was punishment enough, the Serambi newspaper said.

"The six lashes stay and cannot be reduced," Judge Abdullah Tengku Nafi told the defendants.

The sentence was half the 12 lashes recommended by prosecutor Erwin Nasution after the men were caught playing cards for small amounts of money.

Nafi gave the defendant seven days to appeal before they would be publicly lashed with a cane.

The flogging, if it takes place, would be the first in Aceh since the government allowed the province to implement sharia law as part of broader autonomy granted in 2001 to curb a separatist insurgency.

The province, where armed separatists have been fighting since 1976, has so far only partially implemented the strict Islamic laws, enforcing Muslim dress codes, and other sharia requirements such as prayers five times a day, fasting and alms.

All gambling is illegal in Indonesia. --AFP