Indonesia's Aceh province will stop caning criminals in public after a wave of international condemnation of the practice, local officials said Thursday.

Banda Aceh, Indonesia – Rights activists called on Tuesday for Indonesia's Aceh province to release four people detained on suspicion of having homosexual sex, amid concerns over the persecution of the LGBT community in the world's third-largest democracy.

Jakarta – Indonesian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release four people detained in Aceh under a local ordinance that criminalizes same-sex conduct, Human Rights Watch said today. Under Aceh's Islamic Criminal Code, they face up to 100 lashes in public – a punishment that constitutes torture under international human rights law.

Shannon Power – Vigilantes have once again raided the private residence of people they suspect to be LGBTI in Indonesia.

Last week, the vigilantes raided a boarding house where the two men were spending time together. The mob arrested them because they thought they were gay and then handed them over to police.

Josh Jackman – Two Indonesian men have been arrested for having gay sex. The university students had their rooms raided by residents in Aceh, the only region of the Muslim-majority country where Shariah law is in effect and gay sex is illegal.

Anne Barker – Transgender women in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province are losing their jobs and incomes in the wake of police raids that saw several beauty salons shut down.

Datuk Haris Maulana, Aceh – Since the armed conflict broke out up until a peace agreement was reached, to this day Aceh still does not have any cinemas. People from Tanah Rencong – as Aceh is known – who want to watch the latest films have to leave Aceh or wait until they are released on movie websites.

Jakarta – The head of the Sharia and Human Rights Division at Aceh's Sharia Agency, Syukri Yusuf, denies having said that the province was going to implement beheading as a punishment for murder.

In a statement made available Friday, Syukri clarified the matter related to qisas, or retributive law.

Jakarta – The central government has warned the Aceh administration against introducing beheading as a punishment for murder under its sharia law system, saying the province did not have the legal authority to do so.

Anne Barker – Amnesty International has urged Indonesia to step in and block moves to introduce beheading as a punishment for murder in the country's conservative Aceh province.

The argument that beheading has a deterrent effect on crime is baseless and unacceptable, the human rights organisation said.

Jakarta – The conservative Indonesian province of Aceh – known for publicly caning gay people, adulterers and gamblers – is considering the introduction of beheading as a punishment for murder, a top Islamic law official said on Wednesday.

Ihsan Dalimunthe & Dika Dania Kardi, Jakarta – The Indonesian Ulama Council's (MUI) Religious Outreach Commission chairperson, Cholil Nafis, agrees with a plan to apply beheadings (hukum pancung, qisas) for murderers whihh is currently being considered by the Aceh Islamic Law Office.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – A man identified as N and a transgender person identified as M were arrested for allegedly being intimate in a beauty salon in Emperum, Banda Aceh.

They allegedly had sex, which is a crime punishable by up to 100 lashes according to local sharia law.

Vigilantism in the name of ultra-conservative morality continues unabated in Aceh, the only province of Indonesia given special autonomy to enact sharia-based laws. The latest incident involves a man and a transwoman who were rounded up by self-appointed moral police after being accused of prostitution.

Agus Setyadi, ace – The Aceh Islam Law Office (DSI) is debating the application of Qisas – retributive justice – for perpetrators of crimes such as murder in order to push down crime rates which have been rising of late.

All over the world, the rights of trans people – to be free from torture, inhumane or degrading treatment, the right to freedom of expression, a private life, and protection from discrimination – are disregarded and discarded.

As the only province in Indonesia that is allowed to enact explicitly sharia-based laws, Aceh criminalizes everything from selling alcohol to homosexuality to adultery and even the simple act of two unmarried people of the opposite sex being too close to each other.

Jakarta – Authorities in Banda Aceh caned a non-Muslim married couple on Tuesday (Feb 27) after the two were arrested for gambling at an entertainment centre in the capital of Aceh.

The Aceh Sharia Court sentenced the Christian couple, identified as Dahlan Sili Tongga, 61, and Tjia Nyuk Hwa, 45, to eight and seven lashes respectively for violating provincial laws.

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.

Meka Beresford – A group of trans women who were stripped and beaten in Indonesia have spoken out about their ordeal.

Last month, 12 women had their heads shaven, were forced to wear typically male clothing and forced into demeaning exercises in an effort to "turn them into men".

Aceh, the only region in Indonesia granted special autonomy to enact explicitly sharia-based laws, has been in the news a lot of late due to their persecution of the LGBT community (including the recent vile shaming of a group of transgender women by the police) and other increasingly repressive edicts, such as Aceh Besar Regent Mawardy Ali's demand that Muslim female flight attenda

Indonesian authorities are completely failing to protect the transgender women who were appallingly ill-treated and humiliated by police in North Aceh on January 27, some of whom have since had to go into hiding due to fears for their safety, Amnesty International Indonesia said today.

Shannon Power, Aceh – the only province in Indonesia to rule with Islamic Sharia Law – has furthered its clampdown on the LGBTI community, this time banning trans women from working in hair salons.

Working in hair salons is one of the few sources of income for trans women. In Indonesia, trans women are are also known as waria.

The Muhammadiyah Youth Greater Aceh regional board (PDPM) in cooperation with the Indonesian National Youth Committee (KNPI) held a seminar on the theme "The Dangers of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) in Society" on Saturday February 10 at the Aceh Library Archives auditorium.

Greater Aceh regent Mawardi Ali has again issued a circular. This time the regional government has banned beauty salons from being run by or employing transgender women (waria).

Indonesian police said Sunday they would press ahead with an investigation into officers accused of publicly shaming transgender people in conservative Aceh province despite an angry protest against the probe.

Protesters from some 147 organisations (ormas) held a protest action at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in the Acehnese provincial capital of Banda Aceh on Friday February 2.

Banda Aceh, Indonesia – Muslims in conservative Aceh province are protesting against an investigation into local police who rounded up and publicly humiliated transgender women.

Even in ultra-conservative Aceh – the only province in Indonesia allowed to implement Islamic sharia law – last Sunday's persecution of 12 transgender women still came as quite as a shock to many due to the extremely demeaning treatment the women received at the hands of both the police and civilians.

Kate Lamb, Jakarta – Transgender people have been fleeing the sharia-ruled Indonesian province of Aceh amid fears of further violence, an exodus that comes in the same week the national parliament proposed criminalising gay and all extramarital sex.

Aceh Governor Aceh Irwandi Yusuf has spoken at a rally by Islamic organizations (ormas) supporting the actions of North Aceh regency police chief Assistant Superintendent Untung Sangaji who 'retrained' 12 transgender women (waria) in North Aceh recently.

The North Aceh regional police recently arrested 12 transgender women (waria) and forced them to become normal men again.

Although appreciated by the Acehnese, quite a few people have condemned the incident and believe that the actions by North Aceh regency police chief Assistant Superintendent Ahmad Untung Surianata or Untung Sangaji were a human rights violation.

Kyle Knight – Indonesia's police chief General Tito Karnavian has ordered his provincial head in Aceh province to question a subordinate about raids his forces conducted over the weekend on beauty parlors where transgender women worked.

Jakarta – Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi has expressed his support for Aceh Besar Regent Mawardi Ali's decision to require female cabin crew members of airlines to wear hijab on routes destined for provinces that observe sharia.

Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport, the main airport of Aceh province, is located in Aceh Besar regency.

An Indonesian province said Tuesday it is ordering Muslim female flight attendants landing in the region to don a hijab upon arrival – or face punishment by religious police.

Muslim women in Aceh, on the island of Sumatra, are required to wear the Islamic headscarf under religious law, while non-Muslim females can opt to wear modest clothing instead.

Shannon Power – Trans women in Indonesia's Aceh province are trying to flee after police detained a group of women and forcibly cut their hair.

Locally known as Waria, 12 trans women were rounded up by local police and civilian vigilantes at the weekend. They were forced to wear men's clothes and their hair was cut against their will.

Jakarta – Rights group Amnesty International Indonesia has lambasted the arrest of 12 transgender women in Aceh and called for discrimination against members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) community to end.

Indonesian police forcibly cut the hair of a group of transgender women and made them wear male clothing, authorities said Monday, amid a crackdown on the LGBT community in the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation.

Andreas Harsono – Indonesian police and Sharia (Islamic law) police jointly raided five hair salons owned by transgender women in Aceh province on Saturday. They arrested 12 waria, or trans women, forced them to strip off their shirts, and cut their hair in public. The waria remain detained as of Tuesday morning in Aceh.

Shannon Power – A group trans women arrested in Indonesia fought and cried as police arrested them in the north western province of Aceh.

They were then paraded to a public area where they had their heads shaved and were forced wear men's clothes. This happened inn front of a large group of people who filmed the incident on their smartphones.

Mukhlis, Lhoksukon, Aceh – Early on Sunday police and wilayatul hisbah (WH, sharia police) detained 12 transgender women (waria) from a number of beauty salons in North Aceh regency in a 'Community Disease Operation'.

Anna Verdon – A woman and her partner were publicly whipped for getting "too close" to each other just days before their wedding. The shocking public punishment took place in Aceh, Indonesia.

Closeness is seen as a step towards pre-martial sex which is against Sharia Law and as a result the couple each received 20 lashes, in front of gathering crowds.

Caretakers of a mosque in the city of Meulaboh, Aceh cut down 10 pine trees that were planted just outside the house of worship's front fence. Their religiously motivated reason for doing that has caused quite a backlash even in the conservative province.

An Indonesian Christian was publicly flogged on Friday for selling alcohol in conservative Aceh province, a violation of Islamic law, as a crowd of onlookers including children jeered.

Jono Simbolon grimaced in pain when a masked religious officer lashed his back with a rattan stick on a makeshift stage outside a mosque in the provincial capital Banda Aceh.

Jakarta (Antara) – In this day of age, punishment with shackles still exists. Social Worker Association (IPSM) recently found such a practice in Aceh province.

Fauzi Murtala (27), a resident of Baktiya district, North Aceh Regency, suffered a mental disorder in a devastating condition in which he was put in shackles and alienated.

Banda Aceh – The Banda Aceh City Government prohibits its citizens from celebrating the New Year. Leaflets announcing the ban are posted in public places and markets.

The Banda Aceh Sharia Police head Evendi A. Latif told Tempo on Friday that they are also announcing the ban by patrolling in cars with loudspeakers.

Adi Warsidi (Contributor), Banda Aceh – Dozens of journalists in Banda Aceh from numerous organizations and media held a prayer on Monday, December 25, to commemorate fellow journalists who lost their lives in the Aceh tsunami that took place 13 years ago.

Balawyn Jones – On December 26, 2004, a tsunami struck Aceh Province in Indonesia, resulting in unprecedented destruction and loss of life.

In the aftermath of the tsunami, gender relations in Aceh have fundamentally changed. Thirteen years since the Indian Ocean tsunami, the position of women in Acehnese society has arguably worsened.

Katharina R. Lestari – Seven transgender women were arrested and temporarily detained by Shariah police in Indonesia's Banda Aceh for having "bad morals" after being accused by Muslim vigilantes of holding a beauty contest at a hotel.

The women, however, denied the accusation and said they were returning home from a birthday party.

Shannon Power – A group of trans women attending a birthday province were targeted by vigilantes in Indonesia.

The women were attending the birthday celebrations in the Aceh province of Indonesia on Saturday (16 December).

Described as a group of 'militant Islamist vigilantes' by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the group reported the women to police in the region's capital Banda Aceh.