Two men in Aceh province, Indonesia, were publicly beaten 77 times each after being reported to the police by security guards who claimed to have witnessed the men having sex.
Human rights groups have condemned the show, which was watched by dozens of people in the capital Banda Aceh, as brutal and medieval.
It was the third time that authorities beat people up for alleged sexual acts between gays in Aceh province, which was given authority to implement sharia law in 2001 as part of an autonomy agreement with the central government.
The men, aged 27 and 29, were arrested in November after a crowd of locals broke into their room and reportedly found them having sex. They were sentenced to 80 attacks by a Shariah court last month, but have been flogged 77 times for spending time in prison.
The men shivered in pain and begged for the punishment to end as they were beaten with a wicker stick on Thursday. A man’s mother passed out while watching, AFP news agency reported.
Four other people received 17 strokes for extramarital affairs and 40 strokes for drinking alcohol. People caught up playing or women wearing tight clothes can also be punished with beatings.
Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Human Rights Watch Asia division, said the Aceh authorities were guilty of torture. “[The authorities] should be universally condemned for this brutal and absolutely medieval punishment for an act that should never have been criminalized in the first place, ”he said.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has failed to prevent these abuses, he added.
Elsewhere in Indonesia, same-sex relationships are not illegal, although LGBTQ + communities have faced worsening discrimination in recent years and are increasingly targeted by the police under a pornography law that activists say is discriminatory. .