2 Indonesian “Runs Girls” flogged 100 strokes of the cane each for advertising their business online (Photo)
Aceh, at the tip of Sumatra, is the only region in Indonesia to impose sharia law It allows flogging for a range of offences including “runs business” and adultery.
Several Indonesians gathered on Monday to witness 2 women as they were lashed 100 times for advertising their “runs business” online.
They were publicly whipped 100 times each for selling rendering “runs” related services online, an official in the country’s conservative Aceh province said on Tuesday.
Aceh, at the tip of Sumatra, is the only region in Muslim-majority Indonesia to impose Islamic sharia law, which allows flogging for a range of offences including “runs”, gambling, adultery, drinking alcohol, and “same-gender love”.
The two hijab-wearing suspects were arrested in March along with five other “runs girls”, who will also likely face flogging if found guilty of violating Islamic law, said Aji Asmanuddin, head of Langsa’s Islamic sharia agency.
‘They were punished for violating sharia by advertising [their business] through the internet,’ Asmanuddin said.
Officials were struggling to crack down on the area’s booming online “runs” business, he added.
‘This is the first (pimping) case in Langsa although we believe there are many of them out there,’ Asmanuddin said.
‘We just don’t have the necessary tools to monitor them online.’
Rights groups have slammed public caning as cruel, and Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has called for it to end.
But the practice has wide support among Aceh’s mostly Muslim population.