Jakarta – The debate about whether to review Aceh's bylaw that allows adulterers to be stoned heated up Tuesday, with religious leaders voicing their objection to the enactment of the l

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf has refused to sign the controversial Qanun Jinayat Code, or Islamic bylaw, and asked newly installed members of the Aceh legislat

Camelia Pasandaran – Despite widespread condemnation, the Aceh Legislative Council said on Sunday that it would implement a bylaw that allows the stoning of adulterers and the lashing o

Camelia Pasandaran – Hundreds of Acehnese displaced by the December 2004 tsunami celebrated Idul Fitri in a squalid camp in Aceh Besar district, prompting calls on Wednesday for the pro

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – More woman's groups in Aceh are calling for a review of the new bylaw which allows capital punishment by stoning for adulterers, though the local governm

Sunanda Creagh – Recent moves in the country, including plans by Aceh to stone adulterers to death, have raised concerns about its reputation as a beacon of moderate Islam.

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has joined the chorus of condemnation against Aceh province's passing of a new Islamic law calling for adulterers to be stoned to death and h

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The Aceh provincial government will not sign the controversial Islamic bylaw allowing adulterers to be stoned to death, an official said.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Widespread deforestation in the Islamic province of Aceh is threatening some of its rich traditions, including one ancient custom practiced to celebrate

A new Indonesian bylaw that endorses stoning to death for adultery and caning of up to 100 lashes for homosexuality should be repealed immediately, Amnesty International said on Thursda

A statement from an NGO coalition based in Aceh, Indonesia forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission

Erwida Maulia and Hotli Simanjuntak, Jakarta, Banda Aceh – The national rights body for women is calling for a judicial review of Aceh's Administrative Law, after the province's outgoin

Ronna Nirmala – Although the passage of a local bylaw in staunchly Muslim Aceh that requires adulterers to be stoned to death has shocked many here and abroad, some experts on Wednesday

Lynn Lee – A new law passed in Aceh to stone to death married people who commit adultery as well as whip homosexuals who have sex is being seen as a last-ditch move by conservative Isla

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Defying strong objections from human rights groups and the provincial administration, the Aceh legislative council passed the Islamic criminal code Monda

Camelia Pasandaran & Febriamy Hutapea – The central government would strike down a controversial new bylaw mandating that residents of Aceh convicted of adultery be stoned to death

Lawmakers in the Indonesian province of Aceh have passed a law that would see Muslims found guilty of adultery, stoned to death.

Presenter: Katie Hamann

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Despite opposition from human rights activists, the Aceh Legislative Council on Monday endorsed a bylaw mandating stoning to death for adulterers and lashings

Fakhrurradzie Gade, Banda Aceh – Adulterers can be stoned to death and homosexuality is punishable by steep prison terms under a new law passed unanimously by lawmakers in Indonesia's d

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – With lawmakers in Indonesia's Aceh province set to pass a draconian Shariah bill on Monday that could lead to married Muslims being stoned to death for commit

Jakarta – Human rights activists and legislators have condemned the Aceh Legislative Council's (DPRD) plan to pass a regional bill that would see those found guilty of "ethical" crimes,

Tom Allard, Jakarta – Religious conservatives in Aceh are trying to ram through Islamic laws that would allow stoning to death for adulterers and public lashings for those who engage in

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Students from the Communication Forum for Sharia staged a rally on Tuesday at the Aceh legislative council building in Banda Aceh, demanding legislators

Nurdin Hasan & Dessy Sagita – Married Muslims in Indonesia's staunchly Islamic province of Aceh could be publicly stoned for committing adultery under a new piece of legislation tha

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – An announcement which reads "Only non-Muslims allowed" is attached to the door of a food stall in Peunayong, Banda Aceh, the only province in the country

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-105-2009

Dear friends,

Arti Ekawati – More than 200,000 hectares of Aceh's rain forests were cut down between 2006 and 2008 for use in the province's post-tsunami reconstruction, an environmental lobby group

Michael Vatikiotis, Singapore – To visit Aceh today is to experience something the world rarely sees; the dividends of peace.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – After the economic boom from rebuilding projects in the wake of the 2004 earthquake and tsunami, growth in the non-oil and gas sectors in Aceh has dropped as

Ismira Lutfia – There is still no light at the end of the tunnel for Rohingya refugees now being housed in Aceh, as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees is still looking for

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – A civil society group in Aceh has said Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's re-election will place the Acehnese people in an unfavorable position.

Hotli Simanjuntak and Andi Hajramurni, Banda Aceh/Makassar – Incumbent President Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono won the majority of votes in several previously conflict-torn provinces that w

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The presidential and vice presidential debates, particularly on the peace-maker issue, have considerably influenced the Acehnese and led them to rethink

Jonathan Wootliff – Conservation campaigners in Britain are calling on supermarkets to stop selling products that contain palm oil harvested from environmentally sensitive areas in Indo

The victories of local parties in last April's provincial and district elections in Aceh are further confirmation of the success of the peace process underway since August 2005, says TA

The dispute between the rival camps of presidential candidates Jusuf Kalla and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over who brought peace to Aceh continued on Sunday, with claims that Kalla was be

Hotli Simnjuntak, Banda Aceh – More than 5,000 homeless tsunami victims, who have lived in barracks since the 2004 disaster, have threatened to boycott the upcoming presidential electio

Jakarta – A former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group member pledged Saturday to rally support for presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, or SBY, and his running mate B

Alfian, Jakarta – Now the PT Medco E&P Indonesia contract in the Block A gas field in East Aceh will be extended, the local authority wants a new state regulation to clarify the 70:

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – A local party, founded by former rebels of the Aceh Free Movement, was officially announced Monday as the winner of the 9 April legislative election, but

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Autonomy in Aceh has allowed local political elites to trump Jakarta's authority.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – The Aceh Party, founded by former guerilla fighters from the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM, is the only one of six local political parties in the province to cle

Jakarta – The Aceh Party, a local party representing former Aceh rebels, is projected to win control of the parliament in Indonesia's northernmost province Aceh, a local poll monitor sa

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Former separatist combatants have managed to transform the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) into a major local political force after last week's legislative elec

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – A number of homes still remain unfinished, but at 10 a.m.

Ahmad Pathoni, Banda Aceh – Stories about young unmarried couples in Aceh Province arrested by religious patrol officers make frequent headlines in local newspapers with tabloids exposi

Alfian and Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The legislative polls were held peacefully in the restive Aceh province, despite a volley of accusations of intimidation by local parties' mem

Jakarta – The Aceh Party, the leading local party in Aceh whose members mostly include former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) combatants, claimed winning the popular vote in the province.

Banda Aceh – In Indonesia's Aceh province, stories about young unmarried couples arrested by religious patrol officers make frequent headlines in local newspapers with tabloids exposing

Alfian, Banda Aceh – Aceh's leading local parties have promised sharia law during their recent campaigns, bidding to win the upcoming legislative elections and a political chance to rei