Horrible

Two men in Indonesia brace for public caning after getting caught having gay sex

via Wikimedia Commons

Horrifying news out of Indonesia: two men, aged 27 and 28, will face public caning after an angry mob caught the pair having gay sex at home.

The saga began on November 12, when the owner of the boarding house where one of the men lives noted that the resident (whose name has been withheld to protect his privacy, as has that of his partner) had frequent male guests to his room. He then put together a mob of other men living in the boarding house, which then stormed the room of the resident. The mob discovered the two men having sex and dragged them to the street before contacting police.

Police then arrested the two men, who will now face charges of violating the anti-gay sex laws of the Aceh province. As Aceh is a majority Muslim state, residents there have codified Sharia Law. If found guilty at trial, the two men will face public caning as punishment.

Related: Indonesia mayor uses UK serial rape case to harass LGBTQ community

Safriadi, head of the local police department, told CNN Indonesia that the police have also opened an investigation to root out other members of the LGBTQ community, and have begun interrogating the men to learn names of other friends and sexual partners.

“From the initial examination they have admitted to having homosexual relations,” Safriadi told CNN. “This is what we are exploring. There may be a [gay community].”

Law in Aceh prescribes up to 100 lashes with a cane for violation of anti-gay sex laws. For the uninformed, the process involves taking a prisoner to a public area and whacking him in the back with a bamboo cane. The process is extremely painful, and can lead to permanent disfigurement.

This isn’t the only recent case of men caned in Indonesia for having gay sex. In 2017, another angry mob broke into a man’s home and found him in bed with another man. The pair ultimately received 83 lashes with a cane. In 2018, another two men convicted of having gay sex received 87 lashes.

The Human Rights Watch has condemned caning worldwide as a form of torture, and called on the nation to do away with the practice. Furthermore, the United Nations Human Rights Council has also condemned Indonesia’s anti-gay laws.

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