<p>
	Indonesia&#39;s Aceh looks set to cane two men who admitted having sex in contravention of Islamic laws, an official said this morning, the first such punishment of a gay couple in the conservative province.</p>
<p>
	They face up to 100 strokes if found guilty of breaking Aceh&#39;s sharia regulations after they were caught in late March by a group of vigilantes who raided a boarding house, a spokesman for Aceh&#39;s sharia police said.</p>
<p>
	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.</p>
<p>
	Sharia police later arrested the men who admitted being in a relationship and having had sex three times, police said.</p>
<p>
	The arrests in the western province sparked outrage among rights activists, with Human Rights Watch demanding the men&#39;s release and warning that they face &quot;public torture for the &#39;crime&#39; of their alleged sexual orientation&quot;.</p>
<p>
	&quot;The arrest and detention of these two men underscores the abuse imbedded in Aceh&#39;s discriminatory, anti-LGBT ordinances,&quot; said Phelim Kine, the group&#39;s deputy Asia director.</p>
<p>
	Aceh is the only province in the world&#39;s most populous Muslim-majority country which implements sharia.</p>
<p>
	People caught gambling and drinking alcohol have for some years been punished with public canings.</p>
<p>
	Under a local law that came into force in 2015, people can also be punished for having gay sex with up to 100 strokes of the cane.</p>
<p>
	The recently arrested men, whose identities have not been released, will be the first to be caned for breaking the regulation if the punishment goes ahead.</p>
<p>
	Gay sex is not illegal in the rest of Indonesia, which mainly follows a criminal code inherited from former colonial ruler the Netherlands.</p>
<p>
	However there was a backlash against the country&#39;s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community last year with government ministers publicly making anti-gay statements.</p>
<p>
	Aceh, on Sumatra island, began implementing sharia after being granted special autonomy in 2001, an attempt by the central government to quell a long-running separatist insurgency.</p>
<p>
	Islamic laws have been strengthened since the province struck a peace deal with the government in 2005.</p>
<p>
	&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	(Published by RTE.ie on the 10th April 2017)</p>
<p>
	<a href="https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0410/866595-aceh-gay-couple/">https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0410/866595-aceh-gay-couple/</a></p>
