SHARIAsource

In this indictment, MS and MA were found sitting together in a shack in Keudah Station, Banda Aceh. Both of them were planning to go to a concert together but decided to stop by Keudah Station before heading to the concert. Suspicious of their act, the witness named Efriyadi approached MS and MA asking the nature of their gathering. MS and MA insisted that they were only sitting around without any intention to do more than that. Failing to show their marriage certificate on the scene, Efriyadi called the sharīʿa police.

After investigating the case, the prosecutor indicted them for committing khalwat (close proximity between an unmarried man and woman) which violates Aceh Qanun No. 6 of 2014 article 23 (1). Pursuant to this law, the prosecutor demanded both MS and MA to be punished with eight public lashes.

Evidence presented by the prosecutor:

• One pair of jeans
• One blouse
• A pillow
• Blue tarpaulin

MS and MA were found sitting together in a shack in Keudah Station, Banda Aceh. Both of them were planning to go to a concert together but decided to stop by Keudah Station before heading to the concert. Suspicious of their act, the witness named Efriyadi approached Marzuki and Marlina asking the nature of their gathering. MA and MA insisted that they were only sitting around without any intention to do more than that. Failing to show their marriage certificate on the scene, Efriyadi called the sharīʿa police.

In response to the indictment of the prosecutor on the case of MS and MA, the judge ruled against the defendants and pronounced both of them guilty of khalwat (close proximity between an unmarried man and woman). For this, both defendants are to be punished with seven public lashes.

Evidence used in the court:

• One pair of jeans
• One blouse
• A pillow
• Blue tarpaulin

The expansion of the authority of the Court of Religion in Aceh and the subsequent change of its name to Mahkamah Syar’iyah has created an overlap of jurisdiction in the processing of civil and criminal cases. This was due to the granting of the special province status for Aceh in 1999 which entails the right for Aceh to implement Islamic law in the region. Mahkamah Syar’iyah was then granted the authority to process both civil and criminal cases for Aceh’s Muslim citizens, a jurisdiction previously shared between the Indonesian General Courts (Peradilan Umum) and the Courts of Religion (Pengadilan Agama). 

The decision of the Chief Justice of the Indonesian Supreme Court signifies the relegation of authority previously held by the Indonesian General Court to Mahkamah Syar’iyah in Aceh.

The relegated authorities are as follow:

1. Muamalah (civil law) cases of Muslim citizens of Aceh regulated in Aceh Qanun
2. Jinayah (Islamic criminal law) cases regulated in Aceh Qanun

This indictment relates to a case involving a defendant with the initials AM who was accused of committing khalwat (being in a close proximity with a man unrelated to her by blood or marriage) and ikhtilath (physical intimacy between an unmarried man and woman). Her neighbors found her to be in close proximity in her home with a man, RS. AM insisted that RS was, in fact, her legitimate husband and that they were married by way of nikah dibawah tangan, a marriage officiated by a local imam and not registered in the civil registry. The prosecutor rejected the legitimacy of her marriage with RS by claiming that such unregistered marriage violated the Indonesian Marriage Law of 1974. Accordingly, AM’s act of being in close proximity with RS was considered unlawful.

The police raided Remita Sinaga's house in early 2016 where they found 70 bottles of alcohol. Subsequently, the prosecutor indicted her for selling alcohol to her neighbors, a criminal act punishable with up to 30 public lashes under the Acehnese Qanun Jinayat. The prosecutor demanded for her to be punished in the form of 6 lashes in public but the court decided to punish her with 30 lashes. Sinaga became the first non-Muslim who was prosecuted and punished under the Acehnese Islamic criminal law.