Valentine's Day is supposed to be a day of love and happiness but one city in Indonesia has banned the festival after deeming it an 'unlawful act' under Islamic law.
The government in the city of Banda Aceh, located on the island of Sumatra, have requested that locals no longer give cards or chocolates to celebrate Valentine's Day.
The city's mayor, Illiza Saaduddin Djamal, declared that under Islamic law, Valentine's day is considered a forbidden act.
Police will be patrolling the streets of the city, warning people from giving flowers or other gifts for Valentine's Day, according to Breitbart.
The conservative province has been maintaining a strict Islamic criminal code, criminalizing adultery, homosexuality, and public displays of affection outside of a legally recognized relationship
Aceh is the only province in the Muslim-dominated country to adhere to sharia, Islamic law, which puts it at odds with other provinces where the vast majority of the population practices a moderate form of the religion.
'Non-Muslims can choose whether to be tried under sharia law or the regular Indonesian criminal code,' said Syahrizal Abbas, head of the sharia legal department in the provincial government.
The local law in Aceh also criminalizes rape and sexual harassment. Those found guilty could face 40 lashes or more, according to a copy of the legislation seen by Reuters.
Rights groups have previously warned the new law could criminalize consensual sex and create hurdles to reporting rape.
'To punish anyone who has had consensual sex with up to 100 lashes is despicable,' Josef Benedict, Amnesty International's South East Asia campaigns Director, said in a statement.
'This is a flagrant violation of human rights and must be repealed immediately.'
Aceh was granted special autonomy in 2005 as part of an agreement with Jakarta to end decades of separatist violence – and was then able introduce sharia.
Earlier last year, a district in Aceh enacted a bylaw requiring schools to teach boys and girls separately, and another banned women from straddling motorcycles when riding with a driver.
No comments:
Post a Comment