Banda Aceh – Banda Aceh Mayor Illiza Sa'aduddin Djamal has defended her recent decision to impose a partial curfew for local women, saying that the policy would directly benefit female employees in Aceh's capital city.

Jakarta – Vice President Jusuf Kalla is asking the Banda Aceh municipal administration to review the imposition of a curfew on women in the city.

Muhammad Hamzah, North Aceh – Authorities in Indonesia's North Aceh district are set to impose a new bylaw segregating men and women in all public places, as part of the enforcement of shariah practiced in Aceh province.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Women activists in Aceh consider the latest sharia regulations banning unmarried men and women from riding together on motorcycles and separating female and male students in high schools in North Aceh to be unnecessary.

Reza Munawir, Banda Aceh – North Aceh district has passed legislation requiring schools to teach boys and girls separately and hopes to follow that up with a ban prohibiting the two sexes from riding motorcycles together.

Banda Aceh – A district in Indonesia's Aceh has passed legislation banning unmarried men and women from riding together on motorbikes, a lawmaker said Monday, the latest new Islamic regulation in the conservative province.

Jakarta – An unmarried couple have been caned by order of the Bener Meriah regency administration in Aceh after they were found guilty of making love.

Katharina Lestari & Abby Seiff, Banda Aceh – On a recent Friday, three stragglers sat sipping the dregs of their coffee as the city of Banda Aceh closed up around them. The gates of the cafe, like those of shops up and down the street, had been drawn and the streets were clearing of cars.

Banda Aceh – The sharia police in Aceh Besar regency, Aceh, conducted a public caning of six residents on Friday for cock-fight gambling.

"They were caught in Meunasah Krueng village in early January. They received the caning punishment after the Sharia Court found them guilty and decided to cane them in public," said Sharia Police chief Muhammad Rusli.

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Internal rifts within the elites of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) that mark the ongoing transfer of power from the group's old guard to the next generation, may weaken the Aceh Party (PA), GAM's political wing and formal presence in the province, a recent report by the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) has said.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – A senior high school in Sabang, Aceh, expelled an 11th grade student last month after she got married, saying it did not permit married students to study at the school.

Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – The smiling woman pictured in a black veil, Rosnida Sari, is the lecturer of gender studies at the center of the latest uproar in Banda Aceh.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Amid calls for the government to protect a lecturer at Ar-Raniry State Islamic University (UIN) who is under threat for efforts toward peace and tolerance, the university is asking her to apologize to the public.

Michael Bachelard, Banda Aceh – Last November, a young pregnant woman we'll call "Yasmeen"* was led onto a high platform in a city square in the Indonesian province of Aceh and prepared herself to be publicly flogged.

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Hotli Simanjuntak, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – An alliance of NGOs and individuals has called on the government to protect a lecturer at Ar-Raniry State Islamic University in Banda Aceh, who has been intimidated and is under threat for her efforts to develop peace and tolerance.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Hundreds of tourists have reportedly canceled trips to Weh Island in Sabang, Aceh, as the result of recent violence allegedly committed by locals against tourists celebrating the New Year.

A local regulation that banned the people of Aceh from celebrating the New Year in any way has been blamed for triggering the incident.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – An alliance of 34 NGOs and a group of individuals called on the government and security authorities to provide protection for a lecturer of Ar Raniry State Islamic University in Banda Aceh who has been intimidated and under threat for inviting her students to a church as part of her efforts to build peace in the country.

Gayatri Suroyo & Charlotte Greenfield, Banda Aceh – Overwhelmed by fear, members of the main gay rights group in Banda Aceh started burning piles of documents outside their headquarters in late October, worried that the sharia police would raid them at any moment.

Hotli Simanjuntak and Hasyim Widhiarto, Banda Aceh – Exactly 10 years ago, modern history's biggest natural disaster struck the Indian Ocean and nowhere was the devastation and loss of life worse than in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.

More than 221,000 people were killed and missing while over 800,000 were displaced and at least 477,000 had to live in refugee camps.

Michael Bachelard, Banda Aceh – On a stone in the middle of a grassy field, a woman sits alone, remembering the boy she'll never see again.

Syarifa Fatimah Zuhra's eight-year-old son, Muhammad Reza Syahputra, died when the Boxing Day tsunami hit Aceh 10 years ago. His body was never found, so she comes to the children's section of the mass grave in Ulee Lheue to pray.

Kate Lamb, Jakarta – Dozens of buildings – including schools and local government offices – constructed in Indonesia after the Indian Ocean tsunami with Australian aid money were riddled with asbestos, Guardian Australia can reveal.

Fakhrurradzie Gade and Niniek Karmini, Banda Aceh, Indonesia – Cars. Fishing boats. Houses. Entire villages. The 2004 tsunami left Banda Aceh with mountains of debris up to 6 kilometers (4 miles) inland.

Sebastian Strangio – Dec. 26, 2004 began much like any other Sunday. Dilla Damayanti was sitting in her parents' living room having breakfast when the tremors hit: first an insistent shaking, then a pause, then a sudden violent seizure. The family quickly took refuge at a nearby mosque. "It was very quick," she said. "Suddenly, water was coming, very fast."

Novianti Setuningsih, Jakarta – The government in Aceh has agreed to back down from its plans to adopt the flag of the now-disbanded separatist Free Aceh Movement, or GAM, after Jakarta pledged to allow the local government to control one of its oil and gas blocks, top officials said on Thursday.

Novianti Setuningsih, Jakarta – Jakarta is set to relinquish some of its authority over the autonomous province of Aceh, a top Jakarta official said, on condition that the local government there back down from adopting a flag, which greatly resembles that of the now-disbanded separatist Free Aceh Movement.

Jakarta – The Home Ministry has yet to review problematic bylaws, including the controversial Aceh criminal code, or Qanun Jinayat, that violate rights and carry cruel punishments.

Jakarta – The national women's rights body is demanding that the Aceh criminal code, or the Qanun Jinayat, be annulled, saying it is unconstitutional.

"We ask that the Home Ministry annul the Qanun Jinayat and other discriminative policies," said commissioner Andy Yentriyani of the National Commission for Women Against Violence.

Further information on UA: 238/14 Index: ASA 21/029/2014

The Aceh parliament has passed a Shari'a bylaw that would criminalize, among other things, same-sex sexual relations and consensual sex outside marriage, punishable by caning. The governor of Aceh and central government have powers to block its implementation.

Jakarta – Indonesia's central government and the Aceh provincial government should take steps to repeal two new Islamic bylaws that violate rights and carry cruel punishments, Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Thursday.

Indonesia's incoming president should treat Aceh's abusive new bylaws as an opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to human rights, and have them repealed. People in Aceh should enjoy the same rights and freedoms as all Indonesians. – Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director

Banda Aceh – Four men accused of gambling will be lined up in the courtyard of a Banda Aceh mosque and lashed with a cane after prayers on Friday, the Banda Aceh prosecutor's office has told Indonesian state media.

Michael Bachelard, Jakarta – Gay sex and sex outside marriage in the Indonesian province of Aceh will be punishable by 100 lashes of the cane under new laws passed by the local parliament.

Even non-Muslim tourists to Indonesia's westernmost province are subject to the sharia law penalty in a step rights groups have described as an "enormous step backwards".

Indonesia's conservative Aceh province passed a law on Saturday making gay sex punishable by 100 lashes of the cane, in a decision described by rights activists as "an enormous step backwards".

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – The Aceh provincial administration's plan to impose Shariah on non-Muslims has met a chorus of disapproval from the province's minority religious groups.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Human rights activists' criticism of the plan to impose a Shariah-inspired criminal code on non-Muslims in Aceh is uncalled-for, a legislator said on Wednesday, adding that the new regulation would be more lenient than the actual law of God.

UA: 238/14 Index: ASA 21/028/2014

The Aceh parliament is planning to pass a Shari'a bylaw before the end of September that would criminalize, among other things, same-sex sexual relations and consensual sex outside marriage. Those found guilty could be caned up to 100 times.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Citing the need to end discrimination, Aceh lawmakers plan to pass a bylaw this week that would impose a Shariah-based criminal code on Muslims and non-Muslims alike, with offenders facing lengthy caning sessions or jail terms for acts that are perfectly legal elsewhere in Indonesia.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Eight people received five lashes each in Aceh on Friday after they were found guilty of gambling.

Index: ASA 21/026/2014

Amnesty International deplores the caning of five men on 5 September 2014 in Pidie district, in Indonesia's Aceh province. The Indonesian government must end the use of caning as a form of punishment, and the bylaws that provide for it in Aceh province must be repealed.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – For the first time in eight years, five residents of Aceh's Pidie district on Friday were caned publicly for gambling, a violation of Shariah laws enforced in the province.

The public caning in the yard of Al-Falah mosque in Sigli was witnessed by around 1,000 people after Friday prayers.

Index: ASA 21/021/2014

Joint statement by Amnesty International and the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS).

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Three women in Aceh charged with consorting with non-related males could face three to nine lashes of the cane following their arrest by the province's shariah police over the weekend.

Jakarta – The Aceh provincial administration has called on the central government to immediately finish the deliberation of crucial regulations as mandated by the Aceh Governance Law.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – The Aceh Shariah Police have banned any sales of food at daytime during Ramadan, and that rule also applies to non-Muslims so as not to offend Muslims who are fasting.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – In a visit to Sumatra's northernmost province, the European Union's ambassador to Indonesia expressed concern over human rights abuses, against women in particular, that have been documented under the semi-autonomous province's enforcement of shariah law.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – The morality police in Aceh are on the prowl once again as the Islamic holy month of Ramadan approaches, increasing the frequency of their raids against... crimes of fashion.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Police on Sunday said they had arrested three men suspected of involvement in the March shooting of an Aceh National Party (PNA) legislative candidate.

Banda Aceh – The Banda Aceh Military Court on Friday sentenced Chief Pvt. Heri Safitri of the Yonif 111/Raider Paya Bakong, North Aceh, to three years in prison for lending his rifle to civilians who used it to shoot up a political party office on Feb. 17, 2014.

UA: 121/14 Index: ASA 21/014/2014

A woman gang-raped by eight men who accused her of adultery is now at risk of being caned for this "offence" in Indonesia's Aceh province.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The investment climate in Aceh remains mired by stumbling blocks that have hampered economic acceleration despite foreign and domestic investment this year increasing from last year.