Men sentenced to be flogged over 80 times in Indonesia for having gay sex

A couple have been sentenced to be flogged in Indonesia for having gay sex. 

As highlighted by the Human Dignity Trust, same-sexual activity is criminalised in two provinces of Indonesia: Aceh and South Sumatra. Sentences include a maximum penalty of eight years’ imprisonment and 100 lashes. 

Last year, on 7 November, a couple who were suspected of being gay, aged 24 and 18, were arrested in Banda Aceh after their neighbours broke into their rented room and found them naked and hugging each other. 

The judge Sakwanah sentenced them to receive 85 and 80 lashes respectively, as reported by the Daily Mail. 

This follows a similar incident in 2021, when authorities in Aceh province publicly flogged two gay men 77 times each after a vigilante mob raided their apartment in November, allegedly caught them having sex, and handed them over to the police. 

Also, in 2022, two soldiers in Indonesia were kicked out of the army and jailed for seven months for having gay sex, which is banned by the nation’s military.

Aceh has become increasingly conservative and restrictive in the last decade. Strict laws against homosexuality were passed in 2014 and came into effect the following year.

‘Committed illicit acts’

“During the trial it was proven that the defendants committed illicit acts, including kissing and having sex. As Muslims, the defendants should uphold the Shariah law that prevails in Aceh,” she said. 

The two college students accepted the sentence and chose not to appeal. 

Amnesty International Indonesia director Usman Hamid previously said that he blamed “inflammatory statements” by the country’s political leaders for the widespread anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in Indonesia. 

In 2020, nine men were arrested at a Jakarta hotel after police raided a “gay party”. The party’s organisers were charged under anti-pornography laws, the breaking of which is punishable with hefty fines and up to 15 years in jail.

The year before, Indonesia’s criminal code was condemned as a “human rights disaster” for LGBTQ+ people by the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society in Melbourne. 

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