BANDA ACEH (Indonesia) • Indonesia's national police chief has ordered an investigation into the detention of 12 transgender women in the province of Aceh, officials said yesterday, after reports that they were stripped, beaten and forced to cut their hair before being released without charge.

Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population but Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra, is the only province that enforces Islamic law and outlaws homosexuality.

Religious police and vigilantes in the ultra-conservative province often raid homes and places of work and detain people on suspicion of engaging in homosexual activity.

Police in North Aceh raided hair salons - where transgender people often work - last weekend and briefly detained 12 individuals. Rights activists and media reports said they were forced to cut their hair and were stripped and beaten.

"There were photos circulated that led us to suspect that there had been physical action taken against the suspects," said Mr Misbahul Munauwar, a spokesman for Aceh police. "The national police chief has instructed us to investigate those photos and to determine if there was any... procedural or ethical violation."

A national police spokesman confirmed that police chief Tito Karnavian had ordered the investigation.

Human Rights Watch and other rights groups welcomed the move, which comes amid a rising tide of hostility towards the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Police in Aceh and elsewhere have stepped up raids on what they call "gay spas" and "gay sex parties" in recent months.

Dozens of protesters yesterday staged an anti-LGBT rally outside a mosque in the provincial capital Banda Aceh. "We don't hate gay, bisexual or transgender people. What we hate is their actions, and if we can prove their actions, they will be punished," said Aceh governor Irwandi Yusuf.

REUTERS