Mardiyah Chamim, Jakarta – It was a breezy, sunny day. The Neusu soccer field in capital Banda Aceh was abuzz with positive energy.

Banda Aceh – Her face heavily made-up, 'Bella Saphira' struts a darkened length of cement path along the Krueng Aceh river in Indonesia's Banda Aceh, wearing a loosely flowing dress but

Jakarta – A former separatist peace negotiator in Indonesia's Aceh province may face public caning after he was caught with a French humanitarian worker alone inside a car, in violation

Banda Aceh – Dewi Haryanti was in a hurry.

Banda Aceh – If you happen to pass an alleyway in the Banda Aceh's Kuta Alam area at night, don't be surprised if you bump into beautiful, flirtatious and scantily dressed "women".

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The religious police are earning a bad reputation among some Banda Aceh residents for arrogance and thuggery.

Banda Aceh – A convicted gambler from North Sumatra was caned in front of hundreds of spectators Friday in Banda Aceh.

Saiful Bahri, Banda Aceh – Wilayatul Hisbah officers (Syariah/Islamic law police) detained five women that were considered to have violated Islamic law on the afternoon of Monday Februa

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Large crowds gathered on Friday in Banda Aceh and Pidie to watch tsunami survivors publicly caned for gambling.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Observed by a crowd of hundreds, six convicted gamblers were caned on Monday in front of the Baitul Musyahadah Mosque here.

AK-42, Bireuen – The public flogging of nine convicted gamblers, which took place on the grounds of the Bireuen Grand Mosque on Friday September 9, failed to attract spectators.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – More than a dozen men accused of placing Rp1,000 ($0.10) bets in an illegal lottery were flogged in public last week in tsunami-struck Aceh for violating Islamic

Nani Afrida, Bireun – Various elements of society in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam view the implementation of Sharia in the province as discriminatory and as not touching on core issues.

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Irwan Firdaus – Fifteen convicted gamblers were flogged Friday for illegal gaming in Indonesia – the first time caning was used as punishment in the world's most populous Muslim country

Jakarta – Caning was officially allowed Friday in Indonesia's troubled province of Aceh, with 20 law breakers set to be caned in the near future, a local government official said.

Jakarta – The Attorney General supports public floggings as punishment for cases of gambling in Aceh.

Medan – Punishment in the form of public floggings (hukum cambuk) for Muslims who violate Islamic law in Aceh will soon be implemented.

Matthew Moore, Banda Aceh – Radical Islamic groups best known for smashing bars and violent support of the jailed cleric Abu Bakar Bashir have sent large contingents of their members to

Jakarta – Chief Justice Bagir Manan said the country's first sharia court in Aceh, which applies Islamic law, or sharia, could not work effectively due to the absence of related bylaws.

Amid the ongoing military operation to quell the armed rebellion in Aceh, it is very difficult to meet with GAM leaders.

The division between Islamic and secular laws will be put to the test in the Indonesian province of Aceh, as the treason trial of five pro-separatist negotiators continues next week.

Banda Aceh – Indonesia's first Islamic courts for criminal cases were opened in the staunchly Muslim Aceh province on Tuesday as part of efforts to calm separatist passions in the area.

Jakarta – Aceh province will inaugurate its first Islamic sharia court on March 4 as part of the broad autonomy granted to curb separatist sentiment, AFP reported.

Jakarta – The Aceh provincial administration is to introduce caning as punishment in the upcoming fasting month Ramadhan for Muslims who do not carry out their religious obligations.

Jakarta – In line with sharia law, the Aceh legislative council is proposing that caning be one of the punishments for people who tempt Muslims to desert religious teachings.

Steven Gutkin, Jakarta – Women in miniskirts gyrate in all-night discotheques, where designer drugs circulate as freely as alcohol. Friday, the Islamic sabbath, is a regular work day.

Jane Perlez, Jakarta – Indonesia's highest legislative body, after rebuffing calls to impose Islamic law here in the world's largest Muslim country, closed its annual session today with

Jakarta – More than 5,000 Muslims called for the nationwide imposition of Islamic sharia law and voiced opposition to secular President Megawati Sukarnoputri at a demonstration on Monda

Thousands of Muslims turned out to march toward a meeting of Indonesian parliamentarians to demand they incorporate Islamic law into the constitution.

Jakarta – In a further move to implement syariah, or Islamic law, in Aceh, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Police will soon recruit officers for its special religious police unit, YAntara news

Tasikmalaya – A little-known outfit calling itself the Taleban Brigade has taken advantage of the new autonomy laws to get the authorities in this West Java city to issue edicts to enac

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia has introduced Islamic law in Aceh in an attempt to create the illusion that syariah is the cure for all of the province's political problems.

Jakarta – The Aceh provincial administration will soon set up religious police to help effectively enforce Islamic syariah law in the rebellious province, a local senior official said o

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Three Islamic parties in Parliament are pushing for the inclusion of Islamic Syariah law in the Constitution to pave the way for its implementation in Indonesia

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Inspired by Aceh, the only province where the Islamic Law or Syariah is officially in place, Muslim groups in several other provinces in Indonesia are also push

Jakarta – More than 2,000 troops have been deployed to the troubled Aceh province amid rising violence and assassination threats against President Abdurrahman Wahid, who is to visit the

Agencies in Banda Aceh and Jakarta – In a bid to ease separatist tensions in the predominantly Muslim province of Aceh, Jakarta said yesterday it would offer Islamic law.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – A proposed article in the Constitution that stipulates the implementation of the Islamic Law for Indonesian Muslims has received little support from legislators

Banda Aceh – Authorities in the strongly Muslim Indonesian province of Aceh have officially agreed to move towards the imposition of the Islamic Syariah law there, a local MP said Satur

Jakarta – The Indonesian armed forces (Abri) should reduce its non-defence roles and concentrate more on their defence duties to allow democracy to flourish, members of the state-run In

Joe Leahy, Jakarta – One of the country's top Muslim leaders has been ejected from the influential Suharto-backed Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals because of his outspoken

Susan Sim, Jakarta – The leader of Indonesia's second-largest Islamic organisation has resigned from his post in a Suharto-linked Muslim association amidst talk that he had angered the

Jakarta – The Indonesian Army Commander Gen R Hartono has reaffirmed there will be no changes in the set up of the regional military territory commanders before the upcoming general ele