An Indonesian woman has been publicly lashed for standing ‘too close’ to her boyfriend. Independent reports that the punishment was likely handed down because the pair were unmarried, which goes against Sharia law.
The 20-year-old woman is the 14th person to be caned this month publicly in the same province of Indonesia, Aceh.
Last week, 13 people were lashed on a stage for similar ‘crimes’. One of the women was lashed 23 times, again for ‘standing too close to her boyfriend’. A man was caned for spending time alone with a woman in a private location.
One woman was spared temporarily from the lashings last week, as it was discovered that she is pregnant.
The punishments come as a recent addition to the Aceh Islamic Criminal Code, which criminalises consensual sexual relations outside of marriage.
The UN Human Rights Committee has raised concerns about the laws in place in Aceh, saying they violate a right to ‘privacy’.
