Balawyn Jones – On December 26, 2004, a tsunami struck Aceh Province in Indonesia, resulting in unprecedented destruction and loss of life.
In the aftermath of the tsunami, gender relations in Aceh have fundamentally changed. Thirteen years since the Indian Ocean tsunami, the position of women in Acehnese society has arguably worsened.
Katharina R. Lestari – Seven transgender women were arrested and temporarily detained by Shariah police in Indonesia's Banda Aceh for having "bad morals" after being accused by Muslim vigilantes of holding a beauty contest at a hotel.
The women, however, denied the accusation and said they were returning home from a birthday party.
Shannon Power – A group of trans women attending a birthday province were targeted by vigilantes in Indonesia.
The women were attending the birthday celebrations in the Aceh province of Indonesia on Saturday (16 December).
Described as a group of 'militant Islamist vigilantes' by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the group reported the women to police in the region's capital Banda Aceh.
Kyle Knight – Militant Islamist vigilantes targeted a group of transgender women attending a birthday celebration in Indonesia's Aceh province on Saturday.
The mob alerted the local Sharia (Islamic law) police, who detained seven women in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, for 24 hours, and chastised them for "bad morals" before releasing them.
Rachel Eddie – Hundreds of people have been publicly flogged in Indonesia since the Aceh province introduced stricter Sharia by-laws two years ago.
More than 530 people have been caned for homosexual sex, affection outside marriage, selling alcohol and gambling since October 2015.
Andreas Harsono – More than 530 people have been publicly flogged in Indonesia's Aceh province since a new Islamic criminal code was enacted in October 2015, new figures show. People caned include hundreds of men and women punished for "victimless crimes" such as gambling, non-marital kissing, and extramarital sex.
Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Indonesia's second largest Islamic organization Muhammadiyah has urged Aceh authorities to track down and arrest the persons responsible for an arson attack on one of its mosques in the province.
Samantha Hawley, Indonesia – Just months after two gay men were publicly caned in the Indonesian province of Aceh, a woman has received hospital treatment after receiving 100 lashes.
More than 10,000 people turned out in Indonesia's Aceh Sunday to stage a record-breaking song and dance performance stressing the need to conserve a threatened national park in the country's westernmost province.
Jon Emont, Jakarta, Indonesia – Two months after Indonesia's most conservative province drew international headlines for publicly caning two young gay men for having sex with each other, the governor is considering making such whippings private to avoid negative news media attention and prevent any adverse impact on outside investment.
Shannon Power – After an international outcry over the public caning of two gay men in Aceh, the province will make future canings private.
In May, two men in the early 20s were caned 83 times after being convicted of homosexual acts. They were caned in a public square in front of more than 3000 onlookers.
Kyle Knight – The authorities in Aceh – Indonesia's only province that implements full Sharia (Islamic law) – clearly feel stung by the international outcry they generated when police publicly flogged two gay men in May.
Their solution, it appears, is to put an end to public floggings. Instead, they're just going to flog people indoors, away from the cameras.
Jakarta – Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf has said President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has instructed him to encourage investment in the province.
"The President emphasized [that the provincial administration] should convince investors not to be hesitant about investing in Aceh," Irwandi told reporters after meeting with the President at the State Palace in Central Jakarta on Tuesday.
Jakarta – Aceh's Lhokseumawe Police arrested on Saturday nine alleged gamblers – including two village heads and a village official – at a food stall in Blang Raya village in Muara Dua district, Lhokseumawe.
Krithika Varagur, Banda Aceh – It was the young who came first to Indonesia's public caning of gay men. They arrived on motorbikes and on foot, from nearby boarding houses and two universities, some skipping class and the others using up their holidays. An announcement was made barring children under 18, but some stayed anyway, reluctant to break up a family outing.
A Liberal MP says the "cruel and sickening" caning of two gay men in Aceh has cast a cloud over Australia's relationship with Indonesia.
Australia should not stand by and ignore the inhumane treatment of the men who were caned 85 times under sharia law for having consensual sex, the gay backbencher Trent Zimmerman told parliament on Tuesday.
Karuni Rompies and Jewel Topsfield, Banda Aceh – The crowd roared as two men in their early 20s – one muttering through clenched teeth – received 83 lashes each outside a mosque in the Indonesian province of Aceh for the crime of gay sex.
This sickening spectacle, carried out in front of more than a thousand jeering spectators, is an act of utmost cruelty – Josef Benedict, Deputy Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific
Two Indonesian men were caned on Tuesday in front of a jeering crowd as a punishment for gay sex, in a first for the Muslim-majority country where there is mounting hostility towards the LGBT community.
The pair received 83 strokes of the cane each after being found guilty of breaking sharia rules in conservative Aceh province, the only part of Indonesia that implements Islamic law.
Jakarta – The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned the Aceh administration's plan to sentence two men to public caning for engaging in same-sex relations. They will be subject to 85 lashes.
New York – Indonesia's President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo should immediately intervene to prevent the scheduled May 23, 2017 public flogging of two young men convicted of same-sex sexual relations, Human Rights Watch said today. The men were prosecuted under Aceh province's abusive Sharia regulations and sentenced to 85 lashes with a cane, which constitutes torture under international law.
Lane Sainty – Activists are fearful about the potentially far-reaching implications of a brutal lashing punishment handed down to two men convicted of having sex in Indonesia's Aceh province.
Jakarta – The Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) has condemned the decision of a sharia court in Banda Aceh to sentence a 24-year-old man from Langkat, North Sumatra, and a 20-year-old man from Bireun Regency, Aceh, to 85 lashes for engaging in a homosexual relationship.
Jewel Topsfield, Jakarta – An Indonesian man gasped in horror after learning he and another man had been sentenced to 85 lashes for gay sex in the first conviction for homosexuality in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province.
The punishment – imposed under a new sharia-inspired code implemented in the province two years ago – is five lashes more than demanded by the prosecution.
Responding to the sentencing of two gay men to 85 lashes each for consensual same-sex sexual relations, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Josef Benedict, said:
Banda Aceh – A sharia court in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province has sentenced two gay men to public caning, further undermining the country's moderate image after a Christian politician was imprisoned for blasphemy.
The court said the men, aged 20 and 23, would each be subjected to 85 lashes for having sexual relations.
Sharia prosecutors in Indonesia's Aceh province say two men on trial for gay sex should each be punished with 80 lashes, in another blow to the country's moderate image after a top Christian official was imprisoned for blasphemy.
Hotli Simanjuntak and Severianus Endi, Banda Aceh/Pontianak – After making strongly worded remarks against radicals propagating intolerance in his province, West Kalimantan Governor Cornelis was less than welcome by a group of conservative Muslims in Aceh.
Nurul Fitri Ramadhani, Jakarta – It has been 18 years to the day, but the government is yet to resolve an alleged gross human rights violation in Aceh in which Indonesian military personnel reportedly shot hundreds of people protesting against a previous shooting incident.
Adam Harvey, Indonesia – A video recording of Indonesian vigilantes detaining two young gay men captures them kicking, slapping and insulting the pair, shortly before they are turned over to the province's religious police.
Two Indonesians are to go on trial in an Islamic court for having gay sex and could receive 100 strokes of the cane if found guilty, officials in the conservative province of Aceh said, sparking calls from a rights group for their release.
New York – Indonesian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release two men detained in Aceh province under a local ordinance that criminalizes homosexuality, Human Rights Watch said today.
Banda Aceh, Indonesia – Two men in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province each face up to 100 strokes of the cane after neighbors reported them to Islamic religious police for having gay sex.
Marzuki, the Shariah police's chief investigator, said Saturday that if found guilty, the men will be the first to be caned for gay sex under a new code implemented two years ago.
Shannon Power – Two men were arrested in the Indonesian province of Aceh under the accusation they were gay and in a relationship. Neighbours reported the two students who said they had been acting "lovey-dovey" for about three months.
Jakarta – Amid the increasing popularity of halal tourism, Aceh has become one of Indonesia's emerging tourist destinations.
In the 2016 World Halal Tourism Award, the province received two prominent awards, namely World's Best Halal Cultural Destination and World's Best Airport for Halal Travelers, which was given to Sultan Iskandar Muda International Airport.
Hotli Simanjuntak and Moses Ompusunggu, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – A prosecutor in Aceh province has claimed that two Buddhists voluntarily chose to be punished under sharia after being found guilty of gambling.
On March 9, hundreds of people in Aceh Besar regency, Aceh, witnessed the first instance of Buddhists being caned for violating sharia, which is implemented across the province.
Jimmy Nsubuga – A man and woman have been publicly lashed in Indonesia's ultra-conservative Aceh region for allegedly having sex outside of marriage.
They were punished in Banda Aceh, in the only region in the country to be ruled by strict Islamic Sharia law.
The woman received 100 lashes, while the man was given 120 – the same number of lashings as a child molester.
Jakarta – Election watchdog Aceh Elections Observer Coalition (KPPA) says it found 19 alleged violations during the election of regional heads in 16 areas across Aceh from Feb. 14 to Feb. 15.
KPPA spokesperson Aryos Nivada said Bireun and Pidie regencies had the highest number of violations, recording four cases each.
Phelim Kine – Authorities in Indonesia's Aceh province imposed the Sharia, or Islamic law, punishment of multiple lashes of a cane against 339 people in 2016, the first full-year of implementation of Aceh's Sharia's Criminal Code since it went into effect in September 2015.
Jakarta – The East Aceh consultative leadership board (Muspida) has agreed to cancel candidate debate events ahead of the election of regional heads in the regency.
Jakarta – Arya Fernandes, a political observer from the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, gave a warning to the government to keep a close eye on next month's local election in Aceh, as the province has a long history of political conflicts.
The Aceh election will see a race between six pairs of candidates, including three running as independents.
Jakarta – Hundreds of people gathered at a mass grave of tsunami victims in Ulee Lhue, Banda Aceh, on Monday as they prayed for the souls of those buried there.
The victims were among more than 200,000 people killed in one of the biggest tsunamis ever recorded on Dec. 26, 2004.
Jewel Topsfield, Pidie Jaya, Indonesia – As the number of displaced people from Wednesday's earthquake ballooned to more than 23,000, the scarred communities of Aceh confronted an old fear: the spectre of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.
Mariana Yusuf is among several thousand people sheltering at Taqwa mosque in the hard-hit town on Meureudu, breastfeeding her baby amidt the chaos.
Meureudu, Indonesia – Thousands of people in the Indonesian province of Aceh took refuge for the night in mosques and temporary shelters after a strong earthquake Wednesday killed nearly 100 people and destroyed dozens of buildings.
Jewel Topsfield – They are clearing a marketplace in Meureudu which was flattened by the earthquake that struck Aceh on Wednesday morning.
Villager Taufik Hidayat, who has been volunteering at the site since just after the quake struck at 5.03am, has seen far worse. "I wasn't scared. I was there to help. I carried his body," says Mr Taufik, sweating under his beanie.
Oliver Holmes and agencies – At least 97 people have died and more are feared trapped in collapsed buildings after a powerful earthquake struck off Indonesia's Sumatra island at dawn on Wednesday.
Hotli Simanjuntak, Ruslan Sangadji, and Djemi Amnifu, Lhokseumawe/Palu/Kupang – Local authorities in several regions have stepped up security measures to prevent conflicts or violence following the massive rally that turned violent in some locations in Jakarta last Friday.
Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – While President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has committed to improving the lives of women across the country, including by ending violence against women and girls, those who live in Aceh face an increased risk of all kinds of violence following the introduction of a discriminative Islamic Criminal Code Bylaw (Qanun Jinayat) a year ago.
Banda Aceh – A young woman screamed in pain as she was caned in front of a jeering crowd in Aceh, Indonesia, the latest person to be punished after being found guilty of breaking the province's strict Islamic laws.
Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – In what is seen as a pro-family policy, the Aceh administration recently issued a regulation that grants career women six months paid maternity leave to give them more time with their newborns.