Four men who were caught gambling online have been publicly flogged with canes in a brutal punishment enforced in Indonesia‘s conservative Aceh province. 

In front of dozens of people at a public park in Banda Aceh city, one man received 22 lashes while three others were caned eight and nine times, depending on their betting and income, according to Islamic law enforcement chief Roslina.

The men grimaced in pain as an executioner flogged their backs with a stick, after an Islamic leader delivered a sermon on repentance. 

Horrifying pictures show the men receiving the violent thrashes. 

‘One person received more lashes… because their wager and winnings exceeded the equivalent of 2 grams of gold. Meanwhile, the other three… were below that threshold,’ Roslina said.

The men had been caught red-handed gambling online at an internet cafe, she explained.

This is the first public lashing of the year under the region’s strict Islamic law.

Members of the Sharia police prepare to cane a man (C) as a punishment for engaging in online gambling in Banda Aceh on January 30, 2025

Men perform dua (a prayer of request) before being caned by members of the Sharia police

Amnesty International found that Aceh authorities had carried out at least 60 public floggings against 254 people in 2020

Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, is the only province in the Muslim-majority nation where offences such as gambling, adultery, and alcohol consumption are punishable by public caning.

Aceh began enforcing religious law after it was granted special autonomy in 2001, as part of an attempt by the central government to quell a long-running separatist insurgency.

Human rights groups condemn public caning as cruel, but it has strong support among Aceh’s population.

The violent lashings are the latest in a string of public caning in the region carried out on those found guilty of online gambling. 

In August last year, six men who were caught gambling on the internet were publicly thrashed with canes. 

Images showed the prisoners being led by Sharia police form prison vans to stand beneath a canopy, where they were then forced to take violent blows. 

In 2021, two Christian men were publicly flogged 40 times for drinking alcohol and gambling, a rare instance of non-Muslims facing such a punishment.

A male couple were flogged nearly 80 times each that same year for having gay sex, which is outlawed under local Islamic law.

This is the first public lashing of the year under the region’s strict Islamic law

One man received 22 lashes while three others were caned eight and nine times

Aceh is the only province in Indonesia where offences such as gambling, adultery, and alcohol consumption are punishable by public caning

Human rights groups condemn public caning as cruel, but it has strong support among Aceh’s population.

Sharia law was given to Aceh by the central government in Jakarta as part of the region’s bid for autonomy in 2001. 

Amnesty International Indonesia’s monitoring found that Aceh authorities had carried out at least 60 public floggings against 254 people in 2020.

Back in 2019, reports emerged that a woman and a man lost consciousness as they were whipped during separate public punishments on the same day.