One cannot but be amazed at a recent report reaching us at CHECKOUT MAGAZINE of how an Indonesian man who fainted as he was being whipped for pre-marital sex today was revived to receive the rest of his punishment before being rushed to hospital.
Although public flogging has been condemned by international bodies, it is still one of the punishments meted out for some offences banned under local Islamic law in the conservative Aceh region on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, including gambling, drinking alcohol, and having gay or pre-marital sex.
Aceh is the only region in Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, that imposes religious law.
On Thursday, a 22-year-old man – sentenced to 100 strokes – pleaded with a masked Sharia officer to stop lashing his back with a rattan cane before he fainted.
In a surprising twist of event, the man was revived and given brief medical attention and then the flogging continued. He was later carried off the stage by two guards and rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.
On the subject of public flogging, Director of Amnesty International Indonesia, Usman Hamid had this to say, “The fact that two people were beaten unconscious today, in two separate incidents, is a damning indictment of the authorities who let this happen on their watch.”
He added that the “cruel, inhuman and degrading’ punishments amount to torture and called on authorities in Aceh and Indonesia to end them.”
