Enforcement of Sharia Leads to Public Flogging
Sharia To Be Enforced on Christians?
ICC Note: This story pops up wherever there are calls for Sharia to be implemented. The Muslims will tell all who will listen that Sharia is only for Muslims and will not be enforced against Christians. Typically, Christians suffer at the implementation of these laws. These calls for implementation of Sharia act as a barometer of the climate of persecution.
Aceh: The first public flogging for violation of Shari_a takes place
tomorrow
The province is the only one in all Indonesia where Shari_a law is in force.
Fr Severi, the only Catholic priest in the area: _In reciprocal respect, the
punishment should not apply to Christians_.
Banda Aceh (AsiaNews/Agenzie) _ The first public flogging in Indonesia is
set to take place tomorrow, Friday 24 June, 160km from Aceh_s provincial
capital Banda Aceh. Official provincial government sources said twenty-six
people will be flogged; they have been found guilty of violating the Islamic
Shari_a law.
The 26 people, who were convicted of fraud, will be lashed with a reed
before the main mosque of the area. _The lashes should not produce bleeding
wounds,_ said Mustafa Abdullah Geulanggang, head of Bireuen district.
_Should blood start to flow, the flogging must stop._
Fr Ferdinand Severi, parish priest of the Sacred Heat of Jesus Church is the
only Catholic priest in the province. He said: _We respect the creed of
other religious but in a spirit of reciprocal respect, the use of flogging
should not be used for Christians._
In 2001, Jakarta authorized the province of Aceh _ a Muslim _stronghold_ _
to enforce Shari_a law. Since 2003, an Islamic tribunal has been in place.
According to Islamic law, flogging may be used to punish crimes like fraud,
adultery, use of alcohol, gambling and _intimacy between a man and woman who
are not married_.
The Indonesian archipelago has more than 205 million inhabitants of which
87.2% adhere to the Islamic religion. As a rule, Indonesian Islam is quite
moderate: Shari_a is applied only in Aceh province. However, recent years
have seen an increase in fundamentalism thanks to the influence of Pakistani
and Afghan preachers.
