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	An Islamic court in Indonesia has sentenced two men to 85 lashes of the cane for having sex, ignoring pleas for clemency from human rights groups.</p>
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	The public caning handed down by a panel of judges in the conservative Aceh region is the first time laws against homosexuality, introduced in the province in 2014, have been used.</p>
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	The sentence was more severe than the 80 lashes requested by the prosecutor.</p>
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	&quot;The defendants are proven to have committed sodomy and are found guilty,&quot; the presiding judge, Khairil Jamal, said in a statement.</p>
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	The two men had opted to represent themselves in court and said they would not appeal the verdict.</p>
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	Aceh is the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia that criminalises same-sex relations and that uses sharia as its legal code in addition to the national criminal code.</p>
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	Human Rights Watch had called on Indonesia to release the men, who were detained in March after vigilantes reported them to religious police for allegedly engaging in gay sex.</p>
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	&quot;The verdict will increase fear among LGBT people not only in Aceh but also in many other, especially conservative provinces ... in Indonesia,&quot; said HRW&#39;s Andreas Harsono.</p>
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	The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Indonesia has faced growing pressure since high-ranking government officials last year expressed reservations about activism by its members.</p>
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	Three years ago, Aceh province enacted a law that punishes anybody caught engaging in consensual gay sex with 100 lashes,100 months in jail or a fine of 1,000 grams of gold.</p>
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	It also sets out punishment for unmarried people engaging in displays of affection, adulterous relationships and underage sex.</p>
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	Authorities in the province on the northern tip of Sumatra island caned 339 people in 2016 for a range of crimes, according to HRW.</p>
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	Religious police in Aceh have also been known to target Muslim women without head scarves or those wearing tight clothes, and people drinking alcohol or gambling.</p>
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	Two women were detained in October on suspicion of being lesbians after they were seen hugging in public, and were made to undergo &quot;rehabilitation&quot;, media reported.</p>
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	&nbsp;</p>
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	(Published by RTE.ie on the 17th May 2017)</p>
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	<a href="https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0517/875811-indonesia/?google_editors_picks=true">https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0517/875811-indonesia/?google_editors_picks=true</a></p>
