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