Calls to boycott Indonesia over public caning of two gay men
Two men who were accused of having sex by their neigbours in Aceh province in Indonesia were publicly flogged 77 times each as punishment by local Islamic religious police. Aceh, is one of the only provinces in Indonesia that implements the Islamic Sharia law and where homosexuality is a crime. The incident invited swift condemnation from civil rights activists across the world, even as some LGBTQI activists called for a tourist boycott of Indonesia for its treatment of the queer community. The punishment was meted out to the two men – aged 27 and 29 – at Banda Aceh’s Tamansari city park on Thursday.