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 motorbike

Feri Fernandes, Lhokseumawe – A local government circular banning women passengers from straddling motorbikes has been posted at public locations in the northern Acehnese town Lhokseuma

Feri Fernandes, Lhokseumawe – The administration of the northern Acehnese town of Lhokseumawe has officially issued a circular banning women passengers from straddling motorbikes.

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.

Margareth S.

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.

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 pract

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

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

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 r

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Allegations of widespread proselytizing by Christian missionaries and the presence of illegal churches have prompted the Banda Aceh municipal administrat

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

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 n

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 chur

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 chu

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 Ac

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

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

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 spo

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

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 l

Index: ASA 21/036/2012

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 tha

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 Wo

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 fo

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 ce

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 supporte

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.

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.

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 permit

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 villag

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

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 In

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

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 t

Michael Bachelard – In 2007, young Australian entrepreneur Dorjee Sun began a mission to save the world.

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 t

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

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

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 c

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.

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-m

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Newly elected Aceh governor Zaini Abdullah, on Tuesday vowed to make stability and the economy his priorities during his time in office.

Hotli SImanjuntak, Banda Aceh – A return to the polls in at least five of the 17 regencies and municipalities across Aceh is being demanded to address claims of "cheating" in the April

On last Monday, voters in Aceh went to the polls to elect a governor, a deputy governor and 17 mayors and regents.

Muhammad Nazar, one of a number of candidates running for the Aceh governorship, was surprised when he was informed that he had barely gathered 8 percent of total votes in the unofficia