Young Indonesian Couple Publicly Caned Over TikTok Kiss

A young couple in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province has been publicly caned after being convicted under the province’s Islamic law for kissing during a TikTok livestream, according to The Guardian UK.

The 22-year-old man and 25-year-old woman each received 21 lashes with a rattan cane during a public punishment in Banda Aceh on Thursday. More than 100 people reportedly watched as the sentence was carried out in Bustanussalatin City Park by masked officials.

The couple was arrested in April after a video from a February 27 TikTok livestream showing them kissing inside a car went viral, prompting complaints to Aceh’s Sharia authorities.

The Guardian UK reported that the pair had originally been sentenced to 25 lashes each, but the punishment was reduced to 21 because they had already spent four months in detention. The court also ordered the destruction of a mobile phone and USB drive containing the video used as evidence.

Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that enforces Sharia law, a power granted in 2006 under a peace agreement that ended a decades-long separatist conflict. The province’s laws prescribe public caning for offences including adultery, gambling, alcohol consumption, same-sex relations and other morality-related violations.

Four other people were also publicly caned on Thursday after being convicted of online gambling and adultery.

According to The Guardian UK, Amnesty International Indonesia condemned the punishment, calling public caning cruel, inhumane and degrading. Executive Director Usman Hamid questioned whether the couple’s actions justified imprisonment or corporal punishment, describing the response as excessive.