Farouk Arnaz, Jakarta – The Aceh Provincial Police have arrested five men, including a local civil servant, for alleged role in a series of terror attacks and suspected link with global terror network the Islamic State, a spokesman said on Monday.

Kiki Siregar, Jakarta – It was a picture of Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio standing in front of two elephants with a man and a woman in Indonesia's Leuser Ecosystem that got people talking in 2016.

The actor posted the picture on his Instagram and said that Leuser is "a world-class biodiversity hotspot ... but palm oil expansion is destroying this unique place".

Banda Aceh – the Aceh Ulema Consultative Council (MPU) – an assembly of religious leaders in Aceh – have issued a sticker prohibiting people from playing online gambling and the game Player Unknown's Battle Grounds (PUBG). The stickers will be put up on all coffee shops (warkop) and cafes in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

Josh Milton – A gay couple in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, was forcibly dragged out of their homes to a police station and now run the risk of being lashed 100 times all because of their "illegal sexual orientation".

Jakarta – The Aceh administration has issued standard operating procedures for schools as it seeks to resume in-person learning during the pandemic.

Under the procedures, schools must provide on-campus facilities to implement health protocols and form a COVID-19 task force.

Banda Aceh – Residents of Kuta Alam in the Acehnese provincial capital of Aceh have caught a gay couple having same-sex relations at a boarding house. The possible existence of a wider gay community is also being investigated.

Jakarta – The Aceh Ulema Council (MPU) has demanded that players of the highly popular online game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) and other games depicting violence be subjected to public flogging.

Jakarta – Two women in Langsa city of Aceh were publicly whipped 23 times each after having been charged for violating the conservative region's gambling law on Wednesday.

The Langsa Sharia Court previously found the defendants – identified as AN and SS – guilty of online gambling on Oct. 10. Online gambling is haram according to Aceh's Qanun Jinayat (Criminal Code Bylaw).

The murder of a boy in Aceh has shocked many in the country, with the victim brutally killed during his heroic attempt to protect his mother from a rapist.

Jakarta – The caning of a convicted child rapist in Aceh had to be suspended after he developed severe bruising on his back.

Chris Pleasance – A convicted child rapist was whipped until he collapsed in the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh under the province's strict Sharia Laws.

The man, named only as Roni in local reports, was due to be hit 169 times with a rattan cane in a public building on Thursday, but fell down after 52 strikes.

Four men were publicly flogged in a conservative Indonesian province on Tuesday under sharia law, after being convicted for engaging in sexual activity with minors.

The sentence was executed in front of the prosecutors' office in North Aceh with armed policemen guarding the event.

Jakarta – A Rohingya refugee in Aceh died of a respiratory illness on Friday, only a day after two other refugees died of similar causes.

Lhokseumawe city public relations head Marzuki said the refugee, a 19-year-old named Senowara, was admitted to Cut Meutia General Hospital (RSUCM) in North Aceh after complaining of high fever and breathing difficulties.

Reuters in Lhokseumawe – Almost 300 Rohingya refugees believed to have been at sea for six months landed on a beach in Aceh province, Indonesia, early on Monday, Indonesian authorities have said.

Hidayatullah Tahjuddin and Poppy McPherson Reuters Lhokseumawe, Indonesia/Bangkok, Thailand – Almost 300 Rohingya refugees believed to have been at sea for six months landed in Indonesia's Aceh province early on Monday, Indonesian authorities said.

Dzulfiqar Fathur Rahman, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo met on Tuesday with 200 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in Banda Aceh to disburse the productive social assistance aimed at helping them survive the pandemic downturn.

Mardika Parama, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo inaugurated on Tuesday the Indrapuri-Blang Bintang section of the Sigli-Banda Aceh toll road, the first ever toll road in Aceh province, pledging to continue the country's infrastructure projects amid the ongoing health crisis.

Jakarta – The human rights group Amnesty International urged Indonesia on Thursday to abolish caning after two women were struck about 100 times each as punishment for offering prostitution online.

Banda Aceh – Two Indonesian women have been publicly whipped nearly 100 times each for selling sex workers' services online, an official in the country's conservative Aceh province said Tuesday.

Amelia Wynne for Mailonline – An Indonesian prisoner has been left with gruesome injuries after being whipped for violating Sharia law.

The Aceh Islamic Sharia Court administered 17 lashes for the man who had been found guilty of gambling in Lhokseumawe City. Shocking pictures show dark red marks on the man's back and down the side of his arm.

Alfath Asmunda, Banda Aceh – A series of cases of sexual violence against children has taken place in Aceh. Last week for example, two infants in Greater Aceh became victims of sexual violence committed by their uncle with the initials YL (49).

Tim Stickings, for Mailonline – A convicted sex offender was given 74 lashes in a public whipping in Indonesia today – wearing a face shield emblazoned with the name of a local travel firm.

The caning was handed out under Sharia law in the arch-conservative province of Aceh, which has continued to carry out its notorious public floggings despite the coronavirus crisis.

Raja Umar, Banda Aceh – Pictures of a group of women cyclists wearing tight clothing and no headscarfs riding around the Acehnese provincial capital of Banda Aceh has gone viral on social media.

The photos and videos of the women wearing sexy pink tops invited criticism from netizens.

Jakarta – A Sumatran tiger found dead on Monday on a plantation in South Aceh regency, Aceh, is believed to have ingested toxic substances.

Antara, Jakarta – The Coalition of Civil Society Organizations has praised the local people and Government of North Aceh for their initiative and lead in rescuing Rohingya refugees in distress at sea on Thursday (June 25).

Max Walden – Almost 100 Rohingya people were helped ashore by locals from fishing villages on the northern tip of the Indonesian province of Aceh before officials had decided to allow the people to disembark.

At least 79 of the rescued Rohingya are women and children, who have temporarily been sheltered in an abandoned Indonesian Immigration facility.

Rebecca Ratcliffe and Febriana Firdaus – On Thursday afternoon, residents of Aceh, Indonesia, waded back and forth in water helping Rohingya refugees clamber to safety. Exhausted children were passed between rescuers.

Jakarta – Amnesty International has urged the government to show support for Aceh residents after they rescued dozens of Rohingya refugees in Northern Aceh waters. Amnesty called this event "a victory for humanitarian solidarity" and demanded that the Indonesian authorities ensure immediate protection for the refugees.

Nearly 100 Rohingya people who were stranded off the coast of Indonesia were pulled to shore on Thursday by local people furious at local authorities' refusal to give them shelter because of fears about the coronavirus.

Jakarta – Amnesty International has called on Indonesian authorities to ensure immediate protection for dozens of Rohingya refugees, who were rescued by local fishermen after they became stranded in the waters off North Aceh on Wednesday.

Apriza Pinandita, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has said that it has provided emergency assistance to dozens of Rohingya refugees who found themselves stranded in northern Aceh waters.

The 94 refugees, consisting of 49 women, 15 men and 30 children, were rescued by local fishermen on Wednesday.

Jakarta – A video showing a woman being harassed by men after she was allegedly caught stealing at Ulee Gle market in Bandar Dua district, Pidie Jaya regency, Aceh, went viral on Wednesday.

Antara, Jakarta – Land and forest fires in Peunaga Cut Ujong Village, West Aceh, burned 2.1 acres of peatland area in the past week due to hot weather, with the situation remaining unchanged by Friday, June 12 evening.

Aceh Besar (AFP) – Two Indonesians caught having pre-marital sex were flogged a hundred times each on Friday (June 5) in conservative Aceh province with a fraction of the usual crowd watching, due in part to coronavirus fears.Aceh is the only region in Muslim-majority Indonesia to impose Islamic law, which allows whipping for charges including gambling, adultery, drinking alcohol,

Junaidi Hanafiah, Banda Aceh, Indonesia – Wildlife poaching is on the rise in a key Sumatran habitat that's home to some of the rarest species on Earth. But hunters in the Leuser Ecosystem appear to be targeting animals for food, rather than the area's prized tigers, rhinos or orangutans, according to conservationists.

Bradford Betz – Indonesian authorities in the country's ultra-conservative Aceh province publicly flogged six people Tuesday for breaking Islamic law – despite a government ban on mass gatherings amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report.

Jakarta – The Aceh Ulema Council (MPU) has announced that it will allow people to perform daily mass prayers and tarawih (Ramadan night prayers) during the upcoming holy month despite the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.

Jakarta – The Public Works and Housing Ministry handed over 50 homes measuring 28 square meters to fisherfolk living in Linggi village, East Simeulue district, Simeulue regency, Aceh, on Thursday.

Such assistance was expected to help improve the welfare of fisherfolk in the village, as they now had a proper place to live.

Aceh – Units from the Aceh Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) and the Wilayatul Hisbah Islamic police (WH) conducted checks on female drivers wearing tight clothing and men wearing short trousers.

The checks netted scores of violators with one of the women wearing a flannel shirt and long trousers.

Marchio Irfan Gorbiano, Jakarta – Former self-styled prime minister of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Malik Mahmud al-Haytar, demanded that the government follow up on various points of the Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that ended three decades of armed conflict in Aceh.

Jakarta – The city administration of Banda Aceh in the conservative province of Aceh has barred residents from celebrating Valentine's Day, which falls on Feb. 14, on the grounds that it goes against Islamic teachings.

Banda Aceh – Banda Aceh Mayor Aminullah Usman has banned residents from celebrating Valentine's Day or the day of love on February 14.

Jakarta – Indonesia's westernmost province, Aceh, plans to host the West Coast Aceh 250K ultramarathon from April 4 to 6 in an attempt to boost a positive public image.

Aceh Besar – The Greater Aceh regency government in Aceh province has again banned people from celebrating Valentine's Day because it is deemed to conflict with Syariat Islam (Islamic law).

Haeril Halim, Banda Aceh – Agus plunges a wooden paddle into his coffee and marijuana-filled wok, taking care to roast just the right mix of ingredients – and stay one step ahead of police in Indonesia's Aceh province.

His contraband brew is a hit with locals and buyers in other parts of the Southeast Asian archipelago, who pay 1.0 million rupiah ($75) for a kilo of it.

Haeril Halim, Banda Aceh – The masked woman nervously approaches her target, shuffles into position and then unleashes a flurry of lashes – proving herself as the newest member of the first female flogging squad in Indonesia's Aceh province.

The new recruit initially needed some coaxing to punish the offender – an unmarried woman caught in a hotel room with a man.

Achmad Nasrudin Yahya, Jakarta – Aceh Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR) Chairperson Afridal Darmi says that responsibility for resolving human rights (HAM) violations during the armed conflict in Aceh is a national issue.

Masriadi, Lhokseumawe – Lhokseumawe Mayor Suaidi Yahyais has asked to all cafe, restaurant, hotel and internet cafe owners in the city to limit working hours for women employees to 11 o'clock at night.

Junaidi Hanafiah, Rahmadi Rahmad, East Lampung, Indonesia – The government of the Indonesian province of Aceh, notorious for public canings carried out under sharia law, plans to put that same strict Islamic jurisprudence to work protecting what's thought to be the last viable population of wild Sumatran rhinos on Earth.

Agus Setyadi, Banda Aceh – Aceh's religious leaders (ulama) believe that there is no need to build cinemas in Tanah Rencong – as Aceh is known – and that cinemas are not something which have any benefit.