Galuh Wandita – An older woman spoke haltingly into a microphone, her hands trembling from the memory: "They beat my whole body, my eyes and hands were tied.

One woman begged for mercy and another sobbed uncontrollably as Indonesia's Aceh province flogged nearly a dozen people Thursday, including a Buddhist man, charged with breaking local

Lhokseumawe – Three people were publicly whipped 100 times each in Indonesia's deeply conservative Aceh province on Wednesday (Jul 31), with one woman pleading for the masked sharia of

Saiful Bahri I, Lhokseumawe – Female religious pupils (santriwati) from the An Islamic boarding school (pesantren) in Lhokseumawe, northern Aceh, are now required to wear the cadar (fu

Ana Salva – Fajran Zain still remembers the days when young lovers from the province of Aceh, in Indonesia, could sit to enjoy the sunset together without having to worry about the rel

Jakarta – Acting Aceh governor Nova Iriansyah has lashed out at the notion that oil palm plantations in the province contributed to environmental degradation, saying it was impossible

Amy Chew – Women in Indonesia's ultraconservative province of Aceh have opposed efforts to legalise polygamous marriages through a special by-law being debated in the local legislature

Jakarta – Less than a week after the women's world cup football final drew record crowds and global TV audiences, clerics in a hardline Islamist Indonesian province said attempts to re

Afif – The North Aceh regency government has banned women and under age children from going out at night or roaming the streets during school hours without being accompanied by a mahra

Jakarta – North Aceh Regent Muhammad Thaib and 28 mass organizations in the regency have called on women not to go out in the evening without their husbands or muhrim (blood relatives)

Iil Askar Monza, Jakarta – The National Commission of Anti-Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) assessed the plan to legalize polygamy practice presently discussed by Aceh provinc

Jakarta – Members of a religious group have stopped the first-ever Base Jam concert in Aceh because of the pop band's alleged violations of the region's strict Islamic law.

Jakarta – The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) says that the Aceh Regional House of Representatives (DPRA) does not need to issue a regional regulation

Jakarta – The draft Aceh qanun (bylaw) legalising polygamy has attracted support and opposition.

Agus Setyadi, Banda Aceh – A Base Jam concert on the closing night of the 2019 Aceh Culinary Festival (ACF) has been closed down by a hardline Islamic group.

Even as soccer fans around the world watched and celebrated the incredible performances of the gifted athletes at this year's recently concluded Women's World Cup (congrats Team USA!),

Jakarta – The Acehnese Regional House of Representatives (DPRA) is justifying a plan by the Aceh government to legalise polygamy on the grounds that it will save women and children who

Antara, Meulaboh – West Aceh Ulema Council (MPU) chairman Teungku Abdurrani Adian has expressed support for a plan by the Aceh administration to legalize polygamy.

A number of Islamic and youth organisations in the Acehnese city of Lhokseumawe have objected to the national-level U-17 Women's Soccer Tournament being held in Lhokseumawe because the

Masriadi, Lhokseumawe – The Ulama (Islamic clerics) Communication Forum and other youth organisations have objected to the national-level U-17 Women's Soccer Tournament being held at t

Aisyah Llewellyn, Banda Aceh, Indonesia – Hendra, an academic in Indonesia's semi-autonomous region of Aceh, vaguely remembers the first time he saw a public caning take place in his 2

If Aceh's top ulemas (Islamic scholars) continue their crusade against the popular military shooter video game PUBG (Player Unknown's Battlegrounds) and similar games, the mere act of

Dozens of people stormed a mosque in the Aceh capital of Banda Aceh over alleged ideological differences with a guest preacher delivering a sermon at the house of worship recently, foo

Jakarta – Three subdistrict heads in West Aceh, Aceh province, are at risk of being removed from their positions for not attending Idul Fitri prayers in their areas of jurisdiction, an

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – The government has asserted that there is no room for any call of referendum in any region of Indonesia, amid reports that some groups in Aceh are dem

He's not exactly a beggar, but this man in Aceh is certainly a chooser, and an extremely ungrateful one at that.

Jakarta – The mayor of the Acehnese provincial capital Banda Aceh, Aminullah Usman, has prohibited coffee shops from serving customers during shalat tarawih (evening prayers) during th

A man and a woman have been publicly whipped in Indonesia in an archaic punishment for reportedly having sex outside of marriage.

Jakarta – A panel of judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced on Monday evening suspended Aceh governor Irwandi Yusuf to seven years in prison for accepting bribes and unlawful

Aceh, the only Indonesian province given special authority to enact sharia laws, has seen numerous instances of human rights violations in their enforcement of their ultra-conservative

Agus Setyadi, Banda Aceh – The Brunei Darussalam sultanate has enacted laws ranging from canning to stoning to death for the crime of homosexuality.

A group of unmarried couples were whipped in Indonesia's Aceh province on Thursday after they were caught behaving amorously – a crime under the conservative region's Islamic law.

Husaini Endehttp, Banda Aceh – Hundreds of cross-sector women activists in the Banda Aceh provincial capital of Aceh from the Syura Ureung Inong Aceh Association (BSUIA) held a long-ma

Six couples were publicly whipped in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province Monday for relations outside marriage, with at least two women unable to walk after the painful punishment.

Muhammad Ifdhal, Banda Aceh – Aceh Regional House of Representatives (DPRA) Commission VIII chairperson Ghufran Zainal Abidin says that Indonesia's western-most province rejects the Dr

Marchio Irfan Gorbiano, Jakarta – The Arun Lhokseumawe Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Aceh, which houses one of the country's natural gas facilities, could be the latest example of the

Jakarta – The corruption trial of suspended Aceh governor Irwandi Yusuf began to unfold like a soap opera after his close companion, Steffy Burase, was grilled on the stand about alleg

Euan McKirdy – Two 18-year-olds were publicly flogged Thursday in the conservative Indonesian state of Aceh for displaying affection.

Banda Aceh (AFP) – Two teenagers were whipped in Indonesia's Aceh province on Thursday (Jan 31) after they were caught cuddling in public – a crime under the conservative region's Isla

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The rampant destruction of forests in the Leuser ecosystem, a major water source for Aceh, has led to frequent flooding in the province.

Jack Board, Bireuen, Indonesia – For one of the world's most persecuted minorities, in the midst of their struggle, there was always one place they were welcomed.

In another horrifying case of domestic violence in Indonesia, a man from the Bireuen Regency of Aceh allegedly committed a brutal crime against his own wife, reportedly because she wan

Agus Setyadi, Jakarta – New Year's Eve in the Acehnese provincial capital of Aceh was not celebrated this year as it was in other parts of Indonesia.

Jakarta – Officials and religious leaders in Aceh have called on Muslims in the province not to celebrate the New Year for religious reasons.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Hundreds of Aceh residents flocked to the Siron mass grave in Lambaro, Aceh Besar, to pay respect to victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsun

Thousands prayed at mass graves Wednesday to mark the 14th anniversary of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, one of the worst natural disasters in history, even as aid workers raced to help v

Jakarta – Construction workers on a public housing project in Kajhu Village in Aceh Besar, Aceh, were shocked to find 45 body bags bodies believed to be victims of the 2004 tsunami as t

Banda Aceh Mayor Aminullah Usman says he will revoke the business licenses of hotels in Banda Aceh that provide facilities for people to celebrate New Year.

John McBeth, Jakarta – He has fallen a long way since evolving from an independence fighter into Aceh's first democratically elected two-term governor, but Irwandi Yusuf's shock indictm

East Aceh, Indonesia – A group of men caught gambling were publicly whipped in Indonesia's conservative Muslim province of Aceh on Tuesday as a crowd of onlookers cheered.