Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Sharia police in Aceh Besar, Aceh province, on Wednesday, arrested three men buying food in a restaurant during the fasting day.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Eighteen men and one woman were caned in the eastern Aceh town of Langsa on Thursday, less than a week after Amnesty International called for an end to the pr

An Indonesian human rights group on Friday condemned the use of caning in staunchly Islamic Aceh province, saying the punishment violated the country's constitution.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – M. is a member of the Wilayatul Hisbah, Aceh's Shariah Police, and he is proud of it. But the athletically built 33-year-old is no ordinary officer.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Acehnese clerics have criticized Amnesty International's call for the Indonesian government to repeal a bylaw that allowed caning, arguing that the practice d

Jakarta – Amnesty International urged Indonesia to repeal laws in Aceh that allow the use of caning as a punishment as it violates international human rights law, just after Indonesia w

The Indonesian government must end the use of caning as a form of punishment and repeal the laws that allow it in Aceh province, Amnesty International said today after at least 21 peopl

Nurdin Hasan – Fourteen people convicted of violating Aceh's strict Islamic code on gambling were publicly caned in Langsa, East Aceh, a prosecutor said on Friday.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Human rights activists on Tuesday criticized Aceh's provincial administration for failing to prevent vigilantes from punishing alleged violators of Shariah la

Nurdin Hasan, Aceh Besar – Two couples in staunchly Muslim Aceh were caned in public on Friday for separate acts of indecency.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – A squad of Aceh's "fashion police" was berated and attacked on Wednesday by a group of men angry over the officers' attempt to escort what they deemed to be a

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Rizal Adi Syaputra says he is a proud punk, but still prefers to hide his dyed red hair under a cap.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The Network for Civil Society Concerned with Sharia (JMSPS) in Aceh has criticized clerics and asked them not to overly interfere in enforcing the Muslim

Nurdin Hasan – A group of 18 civil society organizations in Aceh has lashed out at local clerics' interpretation of Shariah, which it says is unduly focused on women's clothing.

Nurfika Osman – Fancy an evening in front of the TV after a hard day at school? Not an option if you're a student in Depok.

People in Aceh province are advised against festive New Year's Eve celebrations, including the use of fireworks and blowing on trumpets because it is against Sharia law.

Christen Broecker – When President Obama went to Indonesia last month, he lauded its embrace of democracy in a speech at the University of Indonesia but made clear that equality was ess

Nurdin Hasan, Jantho, Indonesia – Two people received eight lashes each in Islamic Shariah law-controlled Aceh on Friday after being found engaging in an extramarital kiss.

"God will punish us by sending another great earthquake and tsunami if we don't uphold and enforce sharia [Islamic law] in this land," says a resident of Banda Aceh.

These two laws deny people's right to make their own decisions about who they meet and what they wear. The laws, and their selective enforcement, are an invitation to abuse.

Nurdin Hasan, Jantho, Aceh – With heads bowed, two young women walked toward a wooden stage outside Al Munawwarah Mosque in Jantho, Aceh Besar.

Dewi Kurniawati, Banda Aceh – On a recent Friday afternoon, the face of a young woman detained at a Shariah Police station in Aceh's provincial capital Banda Aceh was contorted in anger

Dewi Kurniawati, Banda Aceh – Agnes Monica, the famous Indonesian actress and singer, is a given to wearing sexy clothes, whether on stage, TV or advertising billboards.

Dewi Kurniawati, Aceh – Meet Ramli Mansur, a 46-year-old leader of the Aceh Party, whose members are mostly drawn from the ranks of former combatants of the disbanded Free Aceh Movement

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – More than 1,000 people gathered on Friday in Pidie Jaya to watch the district's first public canings for violations of Islamic law.

Meulaboh, Aceh – Almost a full week after three American citizens were deported from Indonesia's Aceh province for allegedly converting local Muslims to Christianity, Shariah Police and

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Aceh's Sharia Police censured hundreds of women for wearing tight pants and jeans in Wednesday's raid in Banda Aceh.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – A group of men relaxes in a coffee shop in Lamkabeu village, Aceh Besar, chatting about the breaking news of terrorism in their village.

Nurdin Hasan, Jantho (Aceh) – Three of 21 men caught gambling on cards last month were caned with seven lashes each in public on Friday in Jantho, Aceh Besar district, the second time t

Tom Allard, West Aceh – "Let me ask you a question," says the regent of West Aceh, Ramli Mansur, leaning back in his chair in his spacious office.

Nurdin Hasan – If you are a Muslim woman who likes wearing tight jeans or miniskirts, then the West Aceh district may not be the place for you.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – A West Aceh district bylaw banning Muslim women from wearing short skirts or tight jeans is unclear and could lead to chaos, a female activist said on Friday.

Nurfika Osman – For 40-year-old Syarifuddin, serving in the Shariah Police in staunchly Muslim Aceh was his life's calling.

Indonesia on Friday promised a full investigation into the public humiliation, mob beating and possible caning under Islamic law of two people suspected of having an adulterous tryst.

Kathy Marks, Banda Aceh – "Excuse me," says Iskandar, as his mobile phone beeps for the umpteenth time in the past half hour.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – In their best Acehese costumes, kitsch jewelry and towering hair buns, 40 transsexuals sashayed down a stage on Saturday to loud club music, disco lights and

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Two human rights activists said on Sunday that the implementation of Shariah law in Aceh was unfair and discriminatory, as it only applied to the common peopl

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Women's tight trousers and men's short pants have become the focus of Aceh's Shariah Police, who have intensified their patrols to get the shameful articles o

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – A group of sharia police personnel unusually just sit in the back of a pick-up patrol vehicle while making the rounds in downtown Banda Aceh, Aceh provin

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Zulkifli Zainon, the mayor of Langsa city in Aceh, officially dismissed the chief of the local Shariah Police, Syahril, on Wednesday over allegations that thr

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Aceh's deputy governor said on Tuesday that there was no need to disband the province's Wilayatul Hisbah, or Shariah Police, because there was no legal obliga

Karima Anjani and John M.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – - Shariah Police officers who are suspects in Friday's alleged gang rape of a 20-year-old university student may find some respite from knowing they will be c

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – A serious blow to the credibility and morality of sharia police in Aceh province, has occurred after several members were detained for an alleged gang ra

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Having gang-raped and tortured a female student at the Langsa Shariah Police station in Aceh, the three officers responsible have forever blackened the name o

Jerome Rivet, Banda Aceh – She wears a helmet and drives her scooter slowly through the capital of Indonesia's Aceh province, but Yuli is still stopped by the sharia police.

Teuku Dani Ramadhan, Zahara Sulaiman & Ade Mardiyati – In Pasar Rakyat, a market in Meulaboh in Indonesia's West Aceh, a young woman busily browses through a rack of skirts.

Camelia Pasandaran – Fourteen civil society groups on Thursday condemned Aceh's stoning bylaw, the Qanun Jinayat code, saying that most Acehnese were not in favor of it but that critics

Bachtiar Effendy, Jakarta – It seems almost natural that the Aceh legislature has passed a bill on adultery based on Islamic sharia – which derives from the Koran and Sunnah (traditions

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The sharia regulation prohibiting women from wearing pants in West Aceh regency drew strong condemnation from public circles in Aceh province.