Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – A 19-year-old woman was allegedly forced to take methamphetamine and then have sex with a police officer while two other cops watched in a case local police refuse to call rape.

Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah declined to comment when asked about the bylaw that bans women from straddling motorbikes in Lhokseumawe.

Zaini did say that he had not been in contact with the Lhokseumawe administration to discuss the controversial ordinance. "I have not spoken with them, so I could not comment on this," Zaini said as quoted by tribunnews.com.

A network of women's and human rights organizations has called upon women living in the Aceh city of Lhokseumawe to ignore a bylaw banning female passengers from straddling motorcycles.

The head of Indonesia's most influential Islamic organization has come out in support of a bylaw banning female passengers from straddling motorcycles in the Aceh city of Lhokseumawe.

Ayi Yufridar, Lhokseumawe, Indonesia – Authorities in Indonesia's Aceh province are pressing ahead with a proposed Islamic law that would ban female passengers from straddling motorbikes despite reported opposition from the central government.

Feri Fernandes, Lhokseumawe – A local government circular banning women passengers from straddling motorbikes has been posted at public locations in the northern Acehnese town Lhokseumawe. The circular will be in effect for three months before being signed into law as a mayoral regulation.

Feri Fernandes, Lhokseumawe – The administration of the northern Acehnese town of Lhokseumawe has officially issued a circular banning women passengers from straddling motorbikes. The circular has been posted at busy city centres. Below are the contents of the circular.

Arientha Primanita, Bogor – The Indonesian government will review a plan to introduce a bylaw banning female passengers from straddling motorcycles in the Aceh city of Lhokseumawe.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – The number of incidents of violence as a result of Shariah law in Aceh increased in 2012 from a year earlier, a rights group noted on Thursday.

Margareth S. Aritonang and Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – The Home Ministry says it will block a proposed bylaw from officials in Lhokseumawe, Aceh, to ban women from straddling motorcycles.

The bylaw (qanun) would contradict national laws and might infringe on the rights of women, Home Ministry legal chief Zudan Arif Fakrulloh said on Thursday.

Nurdin Hassan, Banda Aceh – The plan by the administration of the Aceh town of Lhokseumawe to issue a regulation that will ban female passengers from straddling motor bikes has sparked widespread criticism.

Bagus BT Saragih and Hotli Simanjuntak, Jakarta – The administration of Lhokseumawe, Aceh, is planning to issue a bylaw banning women from straddling motorcycles, arguing that the practice is "improper" in a province governed by Islamic law.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – The administration of the Aceh town of Lhokseumawe is set to issue a regulation that will ban female passengers from straddling motor bikes.

Irman I.P, Lhokseumawe – Ulema Consultative Assembly (MPU) chairperson Tgk H Asnawi Abdullah from the Northern Acehnese city of Lhokseumawe supports the plan by Lhokseumawe Mayor Suaidi Yahya to issue a regulation banning women from sitting astride motorbikes when riding as passengers.

Nurdin Hasan – Religious tolerance for all in Aceh is still a pipe dream for most minority groups living there, despite the peaceful everyday social interactions between people of all religions there.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Allegations of widespread proselytizing by Christian missionaries and the presence of illegal churches have prompted the Banda Aceh municipal administration to act quickly to prevent religious conflict from undermining peace in Aceh.

SP/Muhammad Hamzah, Banda Aceh – The military's top officer in Aceh has objected to calls to use the flag of a defunct separatist group as the official flag of the province.

Nurdin Hasan & Farouk Arnaz – Banda Aceh – Police in Aceh have blamed the leader of a supposedly heretical religious group for a brutal mob attack that left him and two others dead on Saturday, adding that there is no incriminating evidence against the attackers who also torched the victim's home.

Hotli Simanjuntak – Three people were killed and nine others injured when a sectarian attack broke out at Jambo Dalam village in Peulimbang district, Bireuen regency in Aceh on Friday night.

The attack was aimed at the house of Tengku Aiyub Syakuban, 60, after he was accused of disseminating heretical teachings.

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta, Indonesia – Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi said on Thursday that the lack of legal permits from the local administration had been behind the closure of nine churches in Banda Aceh, which had reportedly caused hundreds of Christians in the Aceh provincial capital to live in fear.

Islamic leaders on Monday called on police to arrest a group of young people who attacked Shariah Police officers in Aceh after their music event was disbanded.

Rangga Prakoso – Authorities have closed nine churches and six Buddhist temples in Banda Aceh in the last week, following mounting pressure from local Islamist groups, activists and church officials said on Sunday.

Theophilus Bela, chairman of Jakarta Christian Communication Forum, said that the churches' priests were forced to sign a statement to close their churches.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Security officials on Wednesday destroyed 973 illegal firearms that had been collected over the past seven years from former pro-independence militiamen in Aceh.

Nurdin Hasan & Farouk Arnaz, Banda Aceh – Two men believed to have been behind a grenade attack on the home of the Bireuen district head in Aceh last month have been arrested with a large cache of weapons, police said on Monday.

Banda Aceh – Three men accused of violating Shariah law were flogged on Friday at Al-Munawwarah Mosque in the Aceh district of Aceh Besar.

The three men, identified as Z. A., 43 years old, M. S., 42, and Al, 40, reportedly received the punishment for gambling.

James Balowski, Jakarta – A suicide in Indonesia's northernmost province of Aceh by a teenager who was publicly humiliated by the province's abusive sharia police has again put the spotlight on laws that discriminate against women.

Hotli Simanjutak, Banda Aceh – Local journalists want the Press Council to investigate reports that Aceh's media reported unconfirmed allegations voiced by local sharia police that led a teenage girl to kill herself.

Ismira Lutfia – The Aceh provincial legislature's decision to further delay the setting up of a truth and reconciliation commission is a major setback to end impunity in the region, a leading human rights group says.

Ismira Lutfia – The suicide this week of a teenage girl in Aceh after she was arrested and apparently humiliated by the province's Shariah police has again put the spotlight on laws that discriminate against women.

Index: ASA 21/036/2012

Jakarta – The apparent suicide of a teenage girl in Aceh should prompt officials to rethink harsh penalties imposed by sharia, a member of the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) says.

Aceh's Shariah Police continued their crackdown on punks on Tuesday, arresting five youths in a raid on an internet cafe in the provincial capital that had allegedly become a hangout for local punks, according to Antara News Reports.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Ayah Din and Raja Muda, both members of the Aceh Party (PA), were reportedly shot by unidentified assailants while traveling home from the swearing-in ceremony of the new Aceh governor in Banda Aceh on Monday.

Banda Aceh – Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi inaugurated newly elected Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah and his deputy, Muzakir Manaf, at a ceremony here on Monday.

The swearing-in was held in conjunction with the Monday plenary session of the Aceh Legislative Council (DPRA) and was attended by some 6,000 guests, including members of the DPRA.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Tensions between Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah and his predecessor Irwandi Yusuf appear to have outlived the fraught election last April, with Zaini's supporters attacking his rival during Monday's inauguration ceremony.

Nurdin Hasan & Ezra Sihite – A mob of about 300 men vandalized a store that was being used for a church service by dozens of Bethel Christians in Aceh on Sunday. There were no casualties reported in the attack.

Zakir Hussain, Jakarta – Indonesia says several churches in Aceh were ordered shut not because of deepening religious conflict or intolerance, but because they did not have local permits.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – A 16-year-old boy was rushed to the hospital after being beaten by an angry mob in a raid on a group of teenagers suspected of having an orgy outside a village in Aceh on Wednesday.

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The discovery that a regent in Aceh ordered 20 places of worship closed in April is raising concerns that growing intolerance will trigger communal conflicts.

The closures were ordered by Aceh Singkil Acting Regent Razali AR in a letter signed on April 30 that also ordered members of the congregations to tear down the churches by themselves.

Ezra Sihite – Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said that he was disheartened by "rumored" demands to close 20 churches in Aceh, explaining that local residents need to accept that Indonesia is a pluralistic nation with more than one recognized religion.

Jakarta – Twenty churches in Singkil regency, Aceh, have been closed down and are likely to be demolished by the local administration.

According to a lawmaker from House of Representatives Commission III on human rights, Eva K. Sundari, the commission received complaints about the forced closure of 20 churches from the United North Sumatra Alliance on Monday.

Jakarta – Representatives of Christian worshipers from Aceh Singkil regency, Aceh, demanded on Tuesday that the government take action against what they say is the wrongful closure of their churches.

Michael Bachelard – In 2007, young Australian entrepreneur Dorjee Sun began a mission to save the world. He criss-crossed the globe with a documentary crew, inserting himself into climate change negotiations in a way which eventually made him one of Time magazine's "Heroes of the Environment".

Ahmad Pathoni, Banda Aceh – Shops in Indonesia's Aceh province, where Islamic law is in force, will soon be banned from selling tight-fitting clothes, an official said on Thursday.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Aceh Party politician Syukri Abdullah and his female business colleague were shot dead on Tuesday night as they were driving through the district of Bireuen to their respective homes in the neighboring province of Lhokseumawe. A third passenger in the victim's vehicle sustained minor injuries.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Another Christian house of worship has been sealed off in Aceh Singkil district, bringing the total since last week to 17 and marking a new low for religious intolerance in the staunchly Muslim province, a rights group said on Wednesday.

Aceh, North Sumatra – Sixty-two young women were detained in a raid for wearing tight clothing in Wilayatul Hisbah, Bireuen, Aceh on Tuesday evening.

Four of the 62 women detained are sales promotion girls who were promoting cigarettes near the area, and were wearing tight black pants, white tops and red jilbab (veils).

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – The Aceh administration has shut down at least 16 Christian places of worship since May 2, alleging they were being run without permits and had been drawing complaints from locals.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Having failed to get reelected in the Aceh gubernatorial election on April 9, Irwandi Yusuf has established a new political party.

The National Aceh Party (PNA), which was registered on Tuesday, is chaired by Irwansyah, known as Teungku Muksalmina.

Langsa, Indonesia – Sharia police in Aceh, the only Indonesian province to practise the Islamic law, caned a homeless "punk" couple nine times Friday after they were caught having pre-marital sex in public.