Two gay men have been sentenced to 85 lashes each after vigilantes filmed them in bed together in Indonesia.
The two men, aged 20 and 23, were found guilty of breaking sharia law in the conservative province of Aceh, the only part of the Muslim-majority country that implements strict Islamic regulations.
Caning is a common punishment for gambling and drinking in Aceh but the latest verdict is the first time it has been handed down for gay sex since a sharia regulation banned the practice in 2015.
The men were caught together in bed in March by thugs who burst into the boarding house where they were staying, in provincial capital Banda Aceh.
Shaky mobile footage of the raid showed the vigilantes kicking, slapping and insulting the men, one of whom was slumped naked on the ground during the attack.
Police later arrested the distressed couple, who said they were in a relationship and had had sex three times.
Handing down the verdict at the Banda Aceh court, presiding judge Khairil Jamal said the men had been ‘proven legally and convincingly guilty of committing gay sex, the defendants are sentenced to 85 strokes of the cane in public’.
source: dailymail.co.uk
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