By Chris Pleasance for MailOnline. Three couples were publicly caned in Indonesia's Aceh province for 'displays of public affection' which violates the regions strict Sharia laws. One woman was seen collapsing in pain after suffering 20 strokes from a rattan cane outside a mosque in the regional capital of Banda Aceh, and had to be helped on to a stretcher by guards. Despite international condemnation, whipping is a common punishment for a range of offences in the deeply conservative region on Sumatra island, including gambling, drinking alcohol, and having gay or pre-marital sex.
All of the couples had served several months in prison before the sentences were carried out. A woman is helped on to a stretcher in Bana Aceh, the capital Aceh, Indoensia's only Sharia law province, after being publicly flogged for 'displays of public affection'.
Women are traditionally allowed to remain seated while they are beaten while men are forced to stand. They are also accompanied by female guards who help them on to and off the stage. Public floggings are common in Aech for a range of crimes including extramarital sex, same-sex relationships, adultery and even hugging in public.
Female members of Aceh's Sharia police help a woman to her feet after she was beaten with a cane made of rattan - a type of creeping vine - for violating the region's strict laws. Three men and three women were given between 20 and 22 lashes each with a rattan cane in front of the mosque in Banda Aceh on Thursday.
Dozens of onlookers, including some visiting Malaysian students, watched the spectacle. Banda Aceh's mayor Aminullah Usman repeated his long-held claim that the punishment is a deterrent. Aceh is the only province in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, to apply Sharia law which proscribes corporal punishments for 'crimes' such as extramarital sex, same-sex relations, and smoking. However, Indonesian lawmakers are considering rolling out a similar legal code across the entire country as they look to replace their Dutch colonial-era legal code with one based on Indonesian principles.
