Woman faints after being caned 140 times under Indonesian province's sharia law

[Eugene]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Woman faints after being caned 140 times under Indonesian province’s sharia law

Agence France-Presse
Fri 30 Jan 2026 00.38 GMT

Sharia police have caned a couple 140 times each in Indonesia’s Aceh province for having sex outside marriage and drinking alcohol, likely one of the severest such punishments since the deeply conservative region adopted Islamic law.

Sexual relations between an unmarried couple are strictly outlawed in Aceh, the only place in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, to impose sharia law.

The couple, a man and a woman, were struck on their backs with a rattan stick in a public park while dozens of people watched, according to an AFP reporter at the scene. The woman fainted after enduring her punishment and was escorted to an ambulance.

In total, the pair received 140 lashes: 100 for sex outside marriage and 40 for consuming alcohol, the head of Banda Aceh’s Sharia police, Muhammad Rizal, told AFP.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/30/indonesia-sharia-law-woman-caned-140-times-faints

Alternate link: https://archive.ph/kj4Qc

[applegrove]

1. Monsters who caned. And creepy people who watched.

Last edited Fri Jan 30, 2026, 10:36 PM - Edit history (1)

That is what Charlie Kirk wanted for America, people (was it children too) watching executions.

[Dear_Prudence]

3. I represent that remark.

I might watch if Trump could be nabbed by Indonesia, convicted for adultry, and caned. So, as the song says, I'm a creep...

(I am re-posting because I want to make it clear that this punishment is cruel and repugnant. And so is the treatment of immigrants and others caught up in ICE's web of cruelty. My anger at Trump escaping justice at every turn is maddening.)

[bamagal62]

4. When I lived in Saudi Arabia

In the early 90s, if I was caught walking down the street with any male that was not my husband or my brother (so no friend!), I could have been arrested for prostitution and given 60 lashes in 30 days. My photo was in my husband’s papers so that they could see I belonged to him.

[applegrove]

5. So awful.

[bamagal62]

6. Longest 3 years of my life.

However, it really opened my eyes to things I was very naive about. I had no idea women were treated as they were until I lived it. I read about it. I thought I understood. But, then I lived it. I hated those 3 years. But, in retrospect, I am now so glad I did that. For sooooo many reasons. I now consider how fortunate I was to experience that culture so that I have a different or more clear understanding. You can’t take that away. I also have lots of good stories!

[applegrove]

7. I've not lived abroad. I've stayed in Paris for a week. That is pretty hard to top.

Spent a week in Venezuela (homemade shrines everywhere along the highways where people died in car accidents - yikes. Gas was cheap). Been to Boston twice, Florida, Cape Cod and Washington, DC. I liked everywhere I went but Ottawa is my home.

[bamagal62]

8. Living abroad changes everything.

Your perspective changes. You become a different person. It’s the best thing that ever happened to me. Live 15 years over seas and then see what you think.

[applegrove]

9. Oh that sounds grand. I was too wimpy to go to India

but read 'A Fine Balance' by Rhohinton Mistry and was blown away by the India depicted there and the lessons it taught. That's how I travel: books.

Good for you for being a risk taker and living abroad. No doubt you are wise for all your travels.