Banda Aceh: An Islamic law
authorising the stoning to death of adulterers and the whipping of homosexuals in Indonesia`s Aceh province will be reviewed, officials said.
The law enacted by the former Aceh Legislative Council on
September 14 would be reconsidered by the newly elected
council and has not been signed into effect by the governor of
the conservative Muslim province.
Human rights activists and officials in Jakarta have
expressed concern that lawmakers in Aceh are out of step with
the rest of the mainly moderate Muslim country, and have asked
for the law to be withdrawn.
"The governor has refused to sign the by-law because of
the stoning (provision), which is identical to a death
sentence," Aceh government spokesman Abdul Hamid Zein told
agencies.
"From the beginning the Acehnese government hasn`t agreed
with the stoning law. We hope the parliament will discuss the
law again."
The new regulations which allow punishments of up to 400
lashes for child rape, 100 lashes for homosexual acts and 60
lashes for gambling -- were unanimously passed by lawmakers in
the final weeks of the outgoing parliament.
They are supposed to replace elements of Indonesia`s
secular criminal code, causing umbrage in Jakarta which wants
to portray Indonesia as a developing, modernising democracy
with a moderate Muslim majority.
Buereau Report
