An Indonesian man and a transgender woman have been arrested for ‘having gay sex’.
The pair face being sentenced to receive up to 100 lashes if convicted. ?
Local residents reportedly broke into a hair salon in Aceh – the only region of the Muslim-majority country where Sharia law is in effect and gay sex is illegal – and dragged the two to a police station.
Police claim to have discovered evidence of gay sex, including condoms and “transaction money,” according to Human Rights Watch.
Evendi A Latif, chief of the Public Order Agency’s sharia division, said that the two had denied having sex, according to The Jakarta Post.
He continued: “Residents said the salon often served as a same-sex dating site.
“It caused unrest in the neighbourhood.”
Evendi added: “According to witness testimonies, N allegedly paid M Rp 100,000 (£5) for a date.”
Trans women are not recognised as women in Aceh. Earlier this year, police arrested 12 trans women and shaved their heads in an effort “to turn them into men”.
The raid on salons was called “operasi penyakit masyarakat,” which translates as “community sickness operation”.
Two university students are also being detained before going on trial for having gay sex in Aceh.
The 21 and 24-year-old were arrested on Thursday after vigilantes forced their way into a room where the men were allegedly having sex.
Marzuki, head of the Aceh Provincial Sharia Law Department, told local reporters that one of the men had ‘confessed’ to the charges after residents handed over mobiles, condoms and a mattress as evidence.
Last year, two men were caned 83 times each as a legal punishment for having gay sex.
Marzuki said then that residents in the local area had been suspicious of the men because they of their apparent intimacy, and deliberately set out to catch them having sex.
Human Rights Watch has called for the immediate release of all four people being held.
Graeme Reid, director of the non-governmental organisation LGBT rights programme, said: “These vigilante raids and arbitrary detentions underscore the abusive and discriminatory nature of Aceh’s criminal code.
“Acehnese authorities should release the four and protect the public from marauding vigilantes who target vulnerable minorities.”
While homosexuality has never been illegal in Indonesia, attitudes towards LGBT people have become steadily more extreme across the country in recent years despite a growing gay population.
The Indonesian Psychiatrists Association classifies homosexuality, bisexuality and being transgender as illnesses.
A bill with the support of most of the country’s main political parties is making its way through the legislative process.
Amendments have been accepted by the House of Representatives, but the whole Parliament must sign off on the bill before it makes its way to the President’s desk.
Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch said the new law “will create new discriminatory offences that do not exist in the current criminal code.
“It will slow down Indonesia’s efforts to develop their economy, society, knowledge [and] education … if law enforcement agencies are busy policing morality.
“It’s sounding like the Acehnese sharia code,” he added.
The day after the two men were caned last year, 141 men were arrested in Jakarta, the capital, for having a “gay sex party”.
And earlier that same month, eight men were arrested for holding a “gay party” in Surabaya, the second biggest city in Indonesia.
The Indonesian Supreme Court narrowly blocked a similar measure from passing last year, but it seems that was only a temporary reprieve.
Gay hook-up apps have also been pulled from the Google Play Store in Indonesia amid a government crackdown on the LGBT community.
by Josh Jackman
Source – PinkNews
