Author of Indonesia's adultery law caught with married woman; flogged

A 46-year-old Indonesian man who reportedly helped draft strict adultery laws was recently publicly caned as he was caught having an affair with a married woman. According to an international media report, Mukhlis bin Muhammad of the Aceh Ulema Council was whipped 28 times and the woman he was with was caned 23 times. The couple was publicly caned on October 31 although they were caught by officials back in September, in a car parked near tourist beach. 

Muhammad is an Islamic religious scholar and a leader in the deeply conservative Aceh province of Indonesia. The religious group also helped write the local government's anti-adultery law. Aceh reportedly has the largest Muslim-majority country in the world and the only region in Indonesia which practices Sharia, which is a stringent form of the Islamic law that has been applied in the province since 2005. 

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Deeply Sorry

The deputy mayor of Aceh Besar district, Husaini Wahab told the international reporters that flogging is God's law and anyone must be flogged if proven guilty, even if he is a member of the MPU. He further adds that the punishments are meant to serve as a reminder to locals to adhere to the Islamic criminal code and it doesn't matter whether he is an ulema, an imam, or an ordinary citizen, the government does not discriminate. Wahab further added that Muhammad will no longer serve as a member of the MPU. He was also the first religious leader to be punished by public flogging under the Sharia law since it went into effect.

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The Indonesian law

The largely-secular laws of Indonesia apply in Aceh, however, the provincial government passed additional regulations which were derived from Islamic criminal law. Under the provision consumption, production and distribution of alcohol, gambling, adultery, rape, sexual harassment, and certain homosexual acts are considered offensive. Punishment to such offenses includes caning, fines, and imprisonment.

Supporters of Islamic criminal law defend its legality under the special autonomy granted to Aceh, saying that it is covered by the freedom of religion of the people of Aceh. Amnesty International has further criticized the use of caning as a punishment, as well as the criminalization of consensual sex outside marriage. In 2016 Aceh carried out at least 100 caning sentences.

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