Aceh Ulema Council (MPU) member Mukhlis reacts as he is whipped in public by a member of the Sharia police in Banda Aceh on October 31, 2019. Chaideer Mahyuddin/Getty Images

An Indonesian cleric who helped write strict adultery laws recieved 28 lashes after he was caught committing adultery himself.

Mukhlis bin Muhammad, worked for the Aceh Ulema Council (MPU,) the Islamic lawmaking body in Aceh, a semi-autonomous region of Sumatra, Indonesia’s largest island.

Bin Muhammad was caught by Aceh religious police in a car with a married woman near a tourist beach in September, the BBC reported.

The woman, who wasn’t named, recieved 23 lashes at the public flogging ceremony on Thursday.

Aceh’s legal system is based on trenchant legal principles of Shariah law, a privilege it won after a decades-long dispute with the Indonesian government.

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An Indonesian lawmaker who helped write strict anti-adultery laws in a semi-autonomous region of the country recieved 28 lashes after he was caught committing adultery himself.

The man, Mukhlis bin Muhammad, worked for the Aceh Ulema Council (MPU,) the Islamic lawmaking body in Aceh, a semi-autonomous region of Sumatra, Indonesia’s largest island.

The charlatan was busted by Aceh religious police in a car with a married woman near a tourist beach in September, BBC Indonesia reported.

He was flogged in public on Thursday, as was the woman, who was not named. The woman recieved 23 lashes.

man flogged aceh indonesia AP

„This is God’s law. Anyone must be flogged if proven guilty, even if he is a member of the MPU,“ Husaini Wahab, the deputy mayor of Aceh Besar, told BBC Indonesia.

Aceh has used Shariah law, a strict interpretation of legal guidelines laid out in the Qu’ran, since 2005.

Homosexuality is illegal in Aceh, as is gambling, sex before marriage, adultery, and alcohol in any form.