Lhokseumawe Shari'a Court Decision No. 4 of 2006: Khalwat

The general prosecutor submitted that the two accused, on Sunday 11 September 2005, at approximately 3:40pm (Western Indonesian Time), were found in close proximity with one another out of wedlock (khalwat), in the offices of the Star Moon Party (Partai Bulan Bintang). The shari'a police (Wilayatul Hisbah) attended the offices after receiving a tip-off via telephone from a witness named Fuadi, who had called around 4:30pm (Western Indonesian Time) regarding a member of the Regional People's Consultative Assembly (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah), whom he suspected to be in the act of khalwat with a woman. Fuadi also reported his suspicions to Said Zulkarnaini, a shari'a police team commandant, after which Said Zulkarnaini and 10 shari'a police officials attended the Party offices.

Upon their arrival, another witness (Iskandar) attempted to peak through a window on both sides of the office, only to find that all the curtains had been drawn. Seeing that an air-conditiong compressor on the right-hand side of the building was still active, Iskandar believed that there were people inside the room. Meanwhile, Said Zulkarnaini and Fuadi approached the front-door, knocking approximately six times, while making verbal greetings to the people inside the room. Fuadi unsuccessfuly tried to force the door open twice, but on the third occasion, the door was opened from the inside by one of the accused. Fuadi introduced himself and requested his permission to inspect the office, but after entering the room, another witness (Irwan) saw the other accused looking nervous, somewhat frightened, reading a newspaper upside down, with her lipstick smeared. Irwan also saw a motorcycle parked at the office's waiting room, as well as a white bag belonging to the female accused on the work desk of the male accused. After inspecting the room, it appeared that there were no other people present. When one of the witnesses requested to see the identity card of the female accused, the male accused instructed her to keep it concealed. When the female accused was prevented from exiting the room by another wintess (Fauzan), the male accused summoned Said Zulkarnaini over to inquire as to why they would not let the female accused leave. The male accused said: "You are all being arrogant. Don't be like those former shari'a police officers I recommended for dismissal" ("Inilah kalian arogan jangan seperti anggota WH lama yang saya usul pecat"), then threatened to call the mayor (walikota), Head of the Banda Sakti Police, and the Head of Islamic Shari'a Services, as well as journalists, to report these supposedly brash shari'a police officials.

The prosecutor sought to have the two accused found guilty of conduct proscribed under art 5, in conjunction with art 22(1) of Aceh Qanun No. 14 of 2003 on Close Proximity (Khalwat).

The court acceded to the prosecutor's application, finding the conduct of the two accused to have met all the elemental requirements of art 5. The court, pursuant to art 22(1), sentenced both the accused to five strokes of the cane, as well as a fine of IDR 1,000.

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