Banda Aceh – A gay couple with the initials AI and DA, who were caught having sex in a raid by local residents at a boarding houses in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, have been sentenced to be flogged.
The Banda Aceh Syar'iyah Court (Islamic Court) judges said that the pair had been proven to have violated Article 63 Paragraph (1) of Aceh Qanun (Bylaw) Number 6/2014 on Jinayat (Islamic Criminal Code). DA was sentenced 80 lashes while AI's sentence was heavier, with 85 lashes.
"Handing down a sentence against the defendant DA in the form of a uqubat ta'zir (a discretional punishment or sentence) of 80 lashes and defendant AI 85 lashes less the period of detention that they have already served", said the panel of judges of the Banda Aceh Syar'iyah Court in its verdict on Monday February 24.
The Banda Aceh public prosecutor Alfian said that they did not object to the verdict and the judges' sentence was the same as that demanded by the prosecution.
"The defendants have accepted the verdict. We are just waiting for the schedule for the execution", Alfian said.
The gay couple in Banda Aceh with the initials AI and DA had previously been caught together by residents in AI's boarding room. At that time they were found hugging each other and naked.
They were also said to have often had prohibited relations and this had been observed by residents around the boarding houses related to the movements of pair. Although the two had used the excuse of working on college assignments to meet.
After the incident at the boarding house, the two were handed over to Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officers and the Wilayatul Hisbah (Islamic police, WH) to be processed according to the laws in force in the land of Rencong as Aceh is known. (fra/fra/dra)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Pasangan Gay di Banda Aceh Divonis Hukuman 80 dan 85 Kali Cambuk".]
