Jewel Topsfield, Jakarta – An Indonesian man gasped in horror after learning he and another man had been sentenced to 85 lashes for gay sex in the first conviction for homosexuality in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province.

The punishment – imposed under a new sharia-inspired code implemented in the province two years ago – is five lashes more than demanded by the prosecution.

Presiding Judge Khairul Jamal told the Banda Aceh Sharia Court the couple had been found convincingly guilty of liwath, which means sexual intercourse between two men.

The two men, who are in their early 20s, will be publicly caned on May 23, before the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

Aceh, the only part of Indonesia that enforces sharia-inspired punishments, also outlaws gambling, drinking and even fraternising with the opposite sex outside marriage. The maximum sentence for gay sex is 100 lashes of the cane.

The sentence comes weeks after Jakarta's outgoing governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian widely known as Ahok, was sentenced to two years' jail for blasphemy against Islam.

Human Rights Watch Indonesia researcher Andreas Harsono said that in both trials the judges imposed a harsher sentence than that requested by the prosecution.

"I think it shows the increasing conservative tradition in Indonesia," Mr Harsono told Fairfax Media. He said judges were increasingly letting Islamist interpretations of the Koran dictate their judgements.The two men were arrested in March after vigilante groups, who suspected the couple of being gay, broke into one of the men's homes and allegedly caught them having sex. Both men said they would accept their sentence.

Banda Aceh sharia police officer Efendi Latief said they would be caned with about four or five male and female couples, who would receive 25 and 30 lashes each for ikhtilat, which is hugging and kissing between unmarried couples. "They are single, most of them are students," he said.

The central government in Jakarta granted Aceh's religious leaders the right to impose sharia-inspired law in 2001 in a deal struck to quell a decades-long separatist movement in the province.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/two-men-to-receive-85-lashes-for-gay-sex-in-aceh-20170517-gw74n3.html