TikTok kiss ends in public caning as young Indonesian couple flogged 21 times

• A young couple in Indonesia's Aceh province received 21 lashes each after kissing during a TikTok livestream.

• The viral video led to their arrest in April, with the court reducing their sentence from 25 to 21 lashes because they had already spent four months in prison.

• Aceh is the only Indonesian province that enforces Sharia criminal law, allowing public caning for offences including adultery, gambling and alcohol consumption.

• Amnesty International condemned the punishment, calling it cruel and arguing that kissing on social media does not justify imprisonment or public flogging.

A simple kiss during a TikTok livestream has ended in public flogging for a young couple in Indonesia's Aceh province, where Islamic law is enforced.

The couple, a 22-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, were each caned 21 times after an Islamic court found them guilty of kissing while they were not married.

The punishment happened on Thursday at Bustanussalatin City Park in Banda Aceh, where more than 100 people gathered to watch officials carry out the sentence using rattan canes.

Their trouble started after a TikTok livestream recorded on February 27 went viral. In the video, the pair were seen kissing inside a car in Banda Aceh. The clip sparked complaints from members of the public, leading sharia police to arrest them in April.

Although the court originally sentenced both of them to 25 lashes, the punishment was reduced to 21 because they had already spent four months in detention before the trial.

The court also ordered that a mobile phone and a USB flash drive containing the viral TikTok video be confiscated and destroyed as evidence.

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Aceh is the only province in Indonesia allowed to enforce its own version of Islamic law, known as Sharia. The special arrangement was introduced in 2006 as part of a peace agreement between Indonesia's central government and separatist groups after years of conflict.

While Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim-majority country, most of the nation operates under a secular legal system. Aceh is the exception.

In 2015, Aceh expanded the reach of its Islamic criminal code to include non-Muslims in certain situations, even though they make up only about one per cent of the province's population.

Under the law, offences considered immoral, including adultery and same-sex sexual relations, can attract up to 100 lashes. Public caning is also used for offences such as gambling, drinking alcohol and other violations of local religious regulations.

The young couple were not the only people punished on Thursday. Four others also received public caning after being convicted of online gambling and adultery.

Human rights organisation Amnesty International Indonesia strongly criticised the punishment, describing public caning as a violation of basic human rights.

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The organisation's Executive Director, Usman Hamid, questioned whether a kiss on social media deserved such severe consequences.

“Such behaviour might be considered inappropriate because social media is viewed by people of various age groups, including children. But is it a crime that warrants imprisonment or even caning? That would be excessive,” said Usman Hamid, the executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia.

Amnesty has consistently argued that public caning amounts to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, noting that Indonesia has signed international agreements that call for the abolition of such punishments.