FEATURED POST

Indonesia | 14 years on death row: Timeline of Mary Jane Veloso’s ordeal and fight for justice

Image
MANILA, Philippines — The case of Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina on death row in Indonesia for drug trafficking, has spanned over a decade and remains one of the most high-profile legal battles involving an overseas Filipino worker. Veloso was arrested on April 25, 2010, at Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, after she was found in possession of more than 2.6 kilograms of heroin. She was sentenced to death in October – just six months after her arrest. Indonesia’s Supreme Court upheld the penalty in May 2011.

Indonesian Christians whipped over sharia-banned child’s play in Aceh

Public caning in Indonesia's Aceh province (file photo)
Two Indonesian Christians were publicly flogged in conservative Aceh province Tuesday for playing a children’s entertainment game seen as violating Islamic law, as hundreds of onlookers ridiculed them and took pictures.

The pair were among five people — including a couple whipped two dozen times each for showing affection in public — who were lashed with a rattan stick.

Aceh is the only province in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country that imposes sharia law and people can be flogged for a range of offences — from gambling, to drinking alcohol to having gay sex or relations outside of marriage.

On Tuesday, Dahlan Silitonga, 61, and Tjia Nyuk Hwa, 45, were flogged six and seven times respectively after being arrested for playing a long-standing game at a children’s entertainment complex that lets users exchange coins for prizes or vouchers, including cash.

The pair were accused of gambling while another man Ridwan MR got 19 lashes for being involved in the game.

“This is to create a deterrent effect, in order for people not to repeat violations of Islamic sharia law,” Banda Aceh’s mayor Aminullah Usman said.

“We purposely do it in front of the public… so it won’t happen again.”

About 300 spectators, including some two dozen tourists from neighbouring Malaysia, jeered the gambling-accused trio as they were whipped on a makeshift stage outside a mosque.

“You are old, show remorse,” the crowd screamed.

Non-Muslim Tjia Nyuk Hwa tried to hide her face in a specially provided white cloak with head-covering hijab.

The two Christians are among just a handful of non-Muslims to be punished under Aceh’s strict religious law since it was adopted in 2001 as part of a deal with the central government to end a long-running insurgency.

In January, an Indonesian Christian was flogged for selling alcohol in the province at the tip of Sumatra island, which made headlines recently after local police publicly humiliated a group of transgender women.

About 98 percent of Aceh’s five million residents are Muslims subject to religious law.

Non-Muslims who have committed an offence that violates both national and religious laws can choose to be prosecuted under either system.

Christians and other non-Muslims sometimes choose a flogging to avoid a lengthy court process and jail term.

Source: Coconuts Bali, Agence France-Presse, February 27, 2018


⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.


Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!



"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Comments

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

USA | The execution I witnessed haunts me. Biden, clear death row before Trump returns: Opinion

Oklahoma panel rejects man’s plea for mercy, paves the way for final US execution of 2024

Indonesia | Filipino woman on Indonesia death row recalls a stunning last minute reprieve and ‘miracle’ transfer

'Bali Nine' drug ring prisoners fly home to Australia as free men

Biden commutes roughly 1,500 sentences and pardons 39 people in biggest single-day act of clemency

Indonesian President to grant amnesty to select prisoners while considering expediting execution of drug convicts

Filipina on Indonesia death row says planned transfer 'miracle'

Indiana | Pastor speaks out against upcoming execution of Joseph Corcoran

Texas | Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for 2 Venezuelan men accused of killing Texas girl