Aceh has a special legal status allowing it to insert Sharia bylaws into the criminal code. In the province, ordinances criminalising drinking alcohol, sex outside of marriage and gay sex can be enforced against Muslims and non-Muslims.



The two men, aged 20 and 23, were allegedly caught having sex on March 28 when a group of vigilante enforcers entered a house and filmed them.

On Wednesday they were each handed a punishment of 85 lashes by a Sharia court in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital. The two men are expected to be caned on May 23.

In 2016, 339 people were lashed for various other infringements of Aceh's bylaws, but this will be the first time the punishment has been meted out to people for having gay sex.

Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher for Human Rights Watch, told BuzzFeed News he had been in touch with LGBT activists in Aceh and they are "really, really scared".

"The prosecution was harsh, [asking for] 80 lashes. The verdict is even harsher: 85. It is another low point for Aceh and also for Indonesia."



Harsono said local lawyers were afraid to help the men because "the environment is so hostile".

"If you are a Muslim, you might be accused of being an infidel," he said. "They told me that, 'We are afraid. We don’t want our houses to be burned down'."