
Two Christian men were publicly flogged today in Indonesia’s ultra-conservative Aceh province for drinking alcohol and gambling, in a rare case of non-Muslims facing a punishment frequently condemned by rights groups.
The two accused received 40 lashes each from a masked sharia officer who beat their backs with a stick.
One of them, identified only as JF, said he chose flogging to avoid a criminal prosecution that could have seen him jailed up to six months.
