Indonesia's Aceh looks set to cane two men who admitted having sex in contravention of Islamic laws, an official said, the first such punishment of a gay couple in the conservative province.
They face up to 100 strokes if found guilty of breaking Aceh's sharia regulations after they were caught in late March by a group of vigilantes who raided a boarding house, a spokesman for Aceh's sharia police said.
Footage of the raid in the provincial capital Banda Aceh that circulated online showed the men, aged 21 and 23, in bed as the gang burst in.
Sharia police later arrested the men who admitted being in a relationship and having had sex three times, police said.
The arrests in the western province sparked outrage among rights activists, with Human Rights Watch demanding the men's release and warning that they face "public torture for the 'crime' of their alleged sexual orientation".
"The arrest and detention of these two men underscores the abuse embedded in Aceh's discriminatory, anti-LGBT ordinances," said Phelim Kine, the group's deputy Asia director.
https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0410/866595-aceh-gay-couple/
