The woman was seen crying in agony as she was lashed in front of a baying crowd for breaking Sharia law. She was just one of 13 women who was punished in the orthodox Indonesian province of Aceh.

The young woman was brutalized under Islamic law in the province of Aceh in Indonesia – the world’s most populous Muslim nation — simply for standing too close to her boyfriend. Aceh has seen a marked rise in public beatings, and the head of Aceh’s sharia police, Rahma Daniati, stated confidently and proudly her justification for the barbaric practice:

“This was not done to humiliate someone…..it is to achieve the deterrent effect, so other teenagers will not follow.”

Back in August, a young couple was “savagely whipped” with a cane in front of a crowd for violating Sharia law by going on a date.

Most disturbing is that students in the province of Aceh staged a rally years ago, demanding the full implementation of Sharia, which has been increasing in Aceh; and that’s bad news for certain groups especially, according to the Jarkarta Post:

That’s bad news for women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, who are discriminated against under the Sharia regulations imposed by the Aceh provincial government.

“Muslim woman lashed 23 times for breaking Sharia law by being ‘close’ to her boyfriend”, by Charlie Bayliss, UK Express, October 18, 2016: