Some couples have been handed the disgrace of a lifetime after they were whipped in public.
The couples were flogged in the full view of everyone
Three couples have been publicly shamed after they were flogged in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Thursday and charged with breaking local Islamic law that outlaws public displays of affection.
According to a report by AFP, the move came despite international condemnation.
Aceh is the only region in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country that imposes Islamic law.
On Thursday, a masked sharia officer rained down between 20 and 22 strokes from a rattan cane each on three men and three women caught behaving amorously.
They had all served several months in prison.
One woman winced and fell over from the painful punishment, which was carried out in front of a mosque in the provincial capital Banda Aceh.
Dozens of onlookers, including some visiting Malaysian students, watched the spectacle.
“I’m nervous because this is the first time I’ve seen something like this,” said visitor Muhammad Rushdy.
“But it can serve as an important lesson for us from other countries to comply with local regulations,” he added.
Banda Aceh’s mayor Aminullah Usman repeated his long-held claim that the punishment is a deterrent.
“But we keep telling visitors not to be afraid to visit Banda Aceh… because you won’t be flogged if you don’t break the law,” he said.
Rights groups have slammed public caning as cruel, and Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has called for it to end, but the practice has wide support among Aceh’s population.
About 98 per cent of the region’s five million residents is Muslim subject.