"The court's less-than-maximum sentence of 85 lashes is no act of compassion. The maximum possible sentence was 100 strokes of the cane and prosecutors had asked for 80. ![]() On Monday, 141 men were detained in a police raid on a gay sauna in Jakarta, the capital. Prejudice has been fanned by stridently anti-gay comments from politicians and Islamic hard-liners, and a case before the country's top court is seeking to criminalise gay sex and sex outside marriage. ![]() With the exception of Aceh, homosexuality is not illegal in Indonesia, but the country's low-profile LGBT community has been under siege in the past year. The Islamic Defenders Front, a hard-line group known for acts of vigilante violence throughout Indonesia, erected a banner at the mosque that declared the group was ready to defend Shariah law whatever the cost. Four heterosexual couples also were caned on Tuesday, receiving a far lesser number of strokes for affection outside marriage.īanda Aceh resident Ibrahim Muhayat said far more people attended the publicly meted-out punishment than usual because like him, many wanted to witness Indonesia's first-ever caning of gay men. ![]() A Shariah court last week sentenced each man to 85 strokes, but they were caned 83 times after a remission for time spent in prison.
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