Nurdin Hasan – A police officer was publicly caned in an Aceh district on Tuesday for violating Shariah law, making him the first law enforcer to receive such a punishment.

Darwin, the head of general crimes unit at the Sabang Attorney's Office, told the Jakarta Globe that Brig. Irwanuddin was lashed six times for gambling in the district of Aceh Besar.

He was the first policeman punished for violating a "qanun" (bylaw) since the province implemented partial Shariah law in some districts. Irwanuddin's caning was conducted at the Sabang Great Mosque in front of hundreds of onlookers from all over the province.

Darwin said his office initially planned to institute the same punishment for two other civilians, though they managed to run away before the officials could find them.

Previously it was reported that the public caning, which was scheduled for Thursday, was broken up by a group of policeman led by an officer who refused to identify himself, with only his rank of police commissioner visible.

"Today [Tuesday], we decided to lash the policeman... since it was canceled on Thursday. Irwanuddin's superior agreed that he should undergo the punishment and he was brought to us," he said.

A witness, who asked not to be named, said on Thursday that the police took away one of the three men who was due to be caned, and who was also a police officer.

The witness said that officials from the prosecutors' office and the Shariah police, or Wilayatul Hisbah, did nothing to stop the police, who were heard to repeatedly assert that Shariah punishment did not apply to police officers. The officers then led their man away, and the caning was called off.

The enforcement of Shariah law in Aceh has long been criticized as arbitrary, with residents and human rights activists alike complaining that public officials caught for offenses that warrant a caning are either never sentenced or never caned.

Shariah law nominally applies to all Muslims in the province, including police officers and government officials.