Aceh where it’s illegal to be gay or trans wants to start beheading people

The conservative province of Aceh in Indonesia is considering introducing beheading as a form of punishment for murder.

Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that has special permissions to enforce Islamic Sharia Law.

It has also lead the national crackdown of LGBTI people because it is illegal to be gay or trans in Aceh.

But now the local government wants to introduce beheading as a murder punishment. It argues beheading  is more ‘in line with Islamic law’.

The head of Aceh’s Sharia Law and Human Rights Office, Syukri M Yusuf, told media that the government was still considering the idea and would not rush into it.

‘Beheading is more in line with Islamic law and will cause a deterrent effect. A strict punishment is made to save human beings,’ Yusuf said as reported in the AP.

‘We will begin to draft the law when our academic research is completed.’

Indonesia’s death penalty

Aceh carries out public canings for convicted criminals. It became the first place in Indonesia to convict and cane two men for homosexuality in 2017.

Firing squad is usually the method of execution in Indonesia for crimes such as murder and drug trafficking.

Beheadings are used in some countries like, Saudi Arabia, but the practice is international law bans the practice.

‘Beheading as a form of execution is cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and prohibited under international law under all circumstances,’ said Juan Méndez, the former UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in 2014.

Vigilante action has risen in Aceh with mobs targeting trans women, gay men and unmarried couples.

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