July 2, 2026, 1:40 p.mJuly 2, 2026, 1:40 p.m
A kiss during a live stream on the TikTok platform had painful consequences for a young couple in Indonesia: In the strictly conservative province of Aceh, the two were publicly whipped with canes.
An official punishing the couple in Aceh.Image: keystone
A Sharia court sentenced the 22-year-old man and the 25-year-old woman to 21 lashes each for violating Islamic moral law, local media reported, citing the authorities. The reason: They are not married.
The punishment was carried out on a stage in a park in the provincial capital Banda Aceh in front of numerous onlookers. Originally, 25 strokes of the cane were given each. Because the couple had already been in custody for four months, the sentence was reduced.
“The public floggings are intended to deter others from violating the province’s religious regulations,” the news portal Serambinews.com quoted the head of the public prosecutor’s office, Bobbi Sandri, as saying.
Kiss reported to Sharia authority
The two were arrested after a livestream from late February went viral. In it, they kissed in a car. The incident was reported to Sharia authorities, who launched an investigation.
The human rights organization Amnesty International has criticized public floggings in Aceh for years as cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment and has called for their abolition. Aceh, on the northwestern tip of the island of Sumatra, is the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia where Islamic law is officially applied.
Caning also for drinking alcohol and gambling
The province gained the right to adopt Sharia law in the early 2000s as part of a peace deal that ended decades of separatist conflict. Islamic law in force there provides for public caning for offenses such as adultery, alcohol consumption, gambling and same-sex relationships. (dab/sda/dpa)