Indonesia has long been held out as a country where moderate forms of Islam flourish. Perhaps so. But sharia law has been adopted in a number of areas in Indonesia. The effect was seen yesterday, when four people were caned in Aceh province on the island of Sumatra. The presumed offense was adultery, although commission of the actual act was not clear; the couples were punished, technically, for being in “close proximity.” Here, a woman named Irdayanti Mukhtar is caned:
The circumstances of her arrest are described:
Neighbours had seen Mukhtar with the man and had barged in on her while the couple were in her bedroom, although it is unclear what they were actually doing.
The mob then dragged them to the local police station to be charged.
It is believed Sharia Police are also investigating a claim that Mukhtar was molested by the crowd before they took her to be charged.
AFP says that “[c]aning as carried out there is mainly aimed at causing shame rather than injury,” but Ms. Mukhtar was hospitalized following her beating. Here, she is being carried away:
In some precincts of the Left, it seems to be an article of faith that sharia is a figment of “Islamophobic” imaginations. But the howling mob in Jantho didn’t consider the brutality of Islamic law to be imaginary:
The jeering crowd recorded the brutal beating on their mobile phones and camcorders and shouted for more beatings in the strict Muslim city.
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