In two separate cases, a woman and a man in Aceh passed out on Thursday after being publicly caned as a punishment for violating the province’s Qanun Jinayat (Islamic criminal code).

In East Aceh regency, a 22-year-old man found guilty of extramarital sex was beaten unconscious after a sharia officer punished him with 100 strokes in a flogging.

The authorities continued with the flogging – even after he had fainted before later awaking – and he was only rushed to the hospital for medical treatment after the punishment finished, AFP reported.

Also on Thursday, the Aceh Tamiang Prosecutor’s Office head of general crimes, Roby Syahputra, said one woman who was one among 33 people being caned in Aceh Tamiang regency fainted after she completed her sentence of 30 strokes, a punishment she received after she was allegedly caught being too close to a man.

Another woman reportedly could not stand the pain after the executioner hit her 39 times in front of hundreds of people and officials in the front yard of the Aceh Tamiang Islamic Center building.

The 35-year-old woman was found guilty of adultery with a 59-year-old man, who was also punished with 100 strokes on Thursday.

“She only received 39 strokes out of 100 strokes. The rest of the punishment will be carried out in the next process next year,” Roby said on Thursday as quoted by Antara.

Read also: Member of ulema council that helps oversee Aceh's sharia caned for adultery

Aceh is the only region in Muslim-majority Indonesia that implements sharia. The provincial administration has fully enforced Qanun Jinayat since 2015.

In addition to being a punishment for adultery, public flogging is also administered against those found guilty of gambling and homosexuality.

Rights group Amnesty International has once again slammed the public whippings as “cruel, inhuman and degrading” punishments that are a “shameful and vicious public spectacle”.

“The fact that two people were beaten unconscious today, in two separate incidents, is a damning indictment of the authorities who let his happen on their watch,” Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid said.

“No one deserves to face this unspeakable cruelty,” he said. “The authorities in Aceh and Indonesia must immediately repeal the law that imposes these punishments, and bring them in line with international standards and Indonesia’s human rights obligations under its own Constitution. (hol)