Gay community in banda aceh, indonesia

Their backs were stiff. Their hands held tight in front of their waists. But their faces showed the pain of each strike of the rattan cane. Aceh is the only place in Indonesia legally allowed to enforce Sharia law—it was granted this authority as part of a special autonomy deal back in that ended a decades-long separatist conflict.

This post originally appeared on Global Post. JAKARTA, Indonesia — Faisal Riza started as a sex worker in one of the riskiest possible places for any kind of transgressive behavior: Aceh, a semiautonomous region of Indonesia that has been governed by sharia law since But Riza and several friends formed a group called Violet Gray to promote sexual and reproductive health as well as HIV prevention in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital. The remote area — on the northern tip of Sumatra, roughly miles from Jakarta — had gotten Internet access just a couple of years earlier.

In March, two gay men in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, were spirited away from their room by a group of vigilantes. A recording of the incident shows both men naked while being interrogated over allegations of same-sex activity. They were detained by local police officers for almost two months before they were then publicly caned 83 times. In April, another 14 gay men were arrested , this time in Surabaya, and forced to undergo HIV testing.

An Islamic Shariah court in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province on Monday sentenced two men to public caning 80 times each after Islamic religious police caught them engaged in what the court deemed were sexual acts. The trial at the Islamic Shariah District Court in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, was held behind closed doors. Judges have the authority to limit public access to a trial if the case relates to adultery and open it only for the verdict. The couple, aged 20 and 21, were arrested in April after residents saw them entering the same bathroom at Taman Sari city park in Banda Aceh and reported it to Sharia police, who were patrolling the area.