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The beatings were handed out on Monday after the couples were arrested several months ago following a police sweep of a hotel in Bande Aceh in Sumatra, where flogging is a common punishment for a wide range of offences, ranging from gambling, alcohol consumption, and gay sex. The Aceh province, located at the tip of Sumatra, is the only one in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, where Islamic law is imposed. The 12 people involved were arrested late last year, and all had served several months in prison prior to their punishment.

Four received seven lashes after being simply being found in a room with a member of the opposite sex who was not a relative.



The rest, who were caught in more compromising situations, received between 17 and 25 strokes for having “intimate relations” outside marriage, an Indonesian official said.



Some of the women involved screamed as the masked Sharia law officer beat them.



At least two had to be carried from the scene.

A woman is publicly flogged in Indonesia

The pain of being flogged is not that bad, the embarrassment is worse Marwan, head of the local public order agency

The spectacle was watched by a mixture of onlookers and journalists, with some using smartphones to record the event.



Marwan, head of the local public order agency, who, as is common practice in Indonesia, goes by one name, said: “This law is designed to have a deterrent effect, not only for the offenders but for the spectators who watch the caning.



“The pain of being flogged is not that bad, the embarrassment is worse.”



Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has criticised the practise of public flogging and called for it to end.

At least two of the women were unable to walk after the beatings

The victims were beaten by a masked Sharia Law officer

However, the practice enjoys wide support in Aceh, where about 98 percent of its five million residents are Muslims.



In a separate case in December, two men caught having sex with underage girls were whipped 100 times each.



Writing on the website of US-based international non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch in October 2017, Indonesia researcher Andreas Harsono said more than 530 people had been publicly flogged in Aceh since the region adopted its new Islamic criminal code two years earlier.



He added: “Under national legislation stemming from a “Special Status” agreement brokered in 1999, Aceh is the only one of Indonesia’s 34 provinces that can legally adopt bylaws derived from Sharia, or Islamic law.

A woman is carried away after the flogging

Many filmed the public flogging on mobile devices