Indonesian woman collapses after 140 lashes for sex and alcohol

A woman in Indonesia’s Aceh province collapsed after being caned 140 times last week for extramarital sex and drinking alcohol in one of the harshest sharia punishments on record.The woman and her partner were struck with a rattan cane in a public park in Aceh province on Thursday as dozens watched, Agence France-Presse reported. Each received 100 lashes for extramarital sex and another 40 for consuming alcohol, according to Aceh" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="6411" data-entity-type="location">Banda Aceh sharia police chief Muhammad Rizal.Three female officers administered the punishment in turns, the BBC reported. Dressed all in white, the woman sobbed and flinched throughout the ordeal before losing consciousness and being carried off on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance, witnesses said.Aceh is the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia to enforce sharia law for Muslims, under a special autonomy arrangement granted in 2001. Hundreds of people are flogged publicly in the province each year for offences ranging from drinking alcohol and gambling to adultery and same-sex relations.The woman collapses after being publicly caned in Aceh" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="6411" data-entity-type="location">Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on Thursday. Photo: AFPFour others were caned alongside the couple, including a sharia officer and his female partner who were each given 23 lashes after being found alone together in a private place. Rizal told the BBC that the officer would be dismissed from his post.