Indonesia’s Aceh province publicly canes two gay men
AUTHORITIES in Indonesia’s Aceh province publicly caned six people accused of breaching Islamic law, including two men who received 77 lashes for having a same-sex relationship, in a punishment Human Rights Watch called “public torture”. Aceh is the only province in majority-Muslim Indonesia to follow Islamic law, and this was the third such caning since Aceh outlawed homosexuality in 2014. The province, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, also imposes caning for crimes such as theft, gambling and adultery. A hooded religious police officer carried out Thursday’s floggings, watched by a crowd wearing face masks. One of the men…