“The woman and the man guilty of zina - flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if ye believe in Allah and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment.” - Qu’ran. As written in the holy books and under Islamic Legal Traditions or the Shiara Law states, unlawful sex - Zina, is considered a crime. But what do they define as “unlawful sex”, this term can rage anywhere from pre-martial sex, adulltery to the thought of having sex with animals. And as said in the holy book, the punishment can rage from death by stones or being lashed by whips accompanied with everyone watching. While you might think that laws as such must have been outdated, countries like Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Morocco and Iran are still following these in humane laws. 

Just two days before, a woman and her boyfriend were brutally lashed a 100 times in public by religious officers in Indonesia. What was their crime for such brutal beatings? Their crime was pre-marital sex. As an entire crowd full of people watched them get whipped, the 22 year old girl cried in pain. Meanwhile her boyfriends back was red with blood, facing the same consequences as her. But no one raised a voice of question, they clicked their pictures and recording their videos. Many a times the beating had to be stopped and a doctor would step in to inspect her condition and clear her before she could finish getting her punishment. Finally, after her punishment she had to be wheeled off the stage.  While Indonesian president Joko Widodo has continuingly asked for these practises to stop, whipping people in public for reasons as minor as holding hands, still continues in Indonesia’s Aceh province. Furthermore, in 2017 a woman was brutally lashed 100 times for being in the presence of a man she was not married to. The situation just worsens from this point. 

The United Nations has urged the Indonesian president to do more than just mere talks about abolishing the law. They have held Brunei, the island that are under Indonesia, for violation of Human Right laws but much is yet to be done. Human Rights Activist talk about how ancient laws like Zina are a fight between traditional and modern muslim practises and codes.With the increase in the number of public stoning and lashing, it puts the whole world in a tense state about the future of people living in areas where Sharia Law is practised and what can be done to safeguard their Human Rights.