We feel that it is time now for people to understand the real meaning of Sharia.
These are the words of Indonesian politician Bustanul Arifin, of the Prosperous Justice Party, and secretary of a special committee responsible for imposing harsh new sharia laws on the devoutly Muslim province of Aceh.
The law, which will come into effect next month according to this report, decrees that married couple who commit adultery could be stoned to death. It also decrees that homosexuals be caned, and jailed for eight years.
Those convicted of rape or consuming alcohol could be face up to 200 strokes of the cane meted out in public.
Adhererents of the Religion of Peace in Indonesia demand death for Geert Wilders
The 69-seat house in the semi-autonomous province voiced no reservations over the new law, an extension of the Sharia code already in force.
Gambling and drinking were already banned after Aceh introduced elements of Sharia law in 2001, when it became compulsory for women to wear headscarves.
Dozens of people deemed to have broken the law have been caned in public by the local Sharia police.
Aceh, the place where Islam first arrived in Indonesia from Saudi Arabia, suffered a long-running separatist insurgency that killed thousands. It only ended in 2005 in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami that wrought havoc on Aceh and killed as many as 160,000.
The new law imposes tough sentences and fines, to be paid in kilograms of gold, for rape and paedophilia.
But the most severe article was on adultery, which orders that offending married couples be punished by at least 100 lashes, or stoned to death.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
September 17th, 2009 at 8:30 am
*Ahem*
'Adulterers'
Thank You.
September 17th, 2009 at 8:33 am
*Ahem*
'Adulterers'
Thank You.
BTW, has anyone else noticed that in these islamic demonstrations, the placards all seem to have been written by the same person?
September 17th, 2009 at 8:43 am
The bloke with the biggest printer? Or they all got them from the same pile in the poster store? Been there, done that! (Whilst an impressionable young lad, I hasten to add.)
September 17th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Tim, you can't expect all those people to be able to write English; so those that do, can corner the market and hope for 'us' to drum up some business for them. And we all know it doesn't take much for these nuts to their knickers in a twist, so there'll always be a demand for your products.
September 17th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Irrelevant of my disbelief, I am amazed that they so readily accept such uneven punishments.
Sex between consenting adults carries the death sentence, while rape = drinking a class of beer.
Since more than a billion people seem not to find this illogical – at least not out loud – I can only hope for a rapid development of the space program.
It is my planet, but I may be wanting off pretty soon.
September 17th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Adulters is an actual word Tim, though no-one else has used it since the 18th Centuary.
I think they are all carrying blank cards and Allah photoshops the message in later.
September 17th, 2009 at 9:15 am
It seems to be the same in ALL demonstrations nowadays, Tim, and I think it's pathetic! If you can't be bothered to write your own placard it doesn't say much about your commitment does it? It's akin to all these idiots who go straight to the "costume shop" when they are invited to a fancy-dress party. Why not wear your ordinary clothes then – they were made by a faceless tailor who is completely unknown to the wearer as well!
September 17th, 2009 at 9:34 am
It's a shame that Allah can't photoshop some intelligent ideas into their blank brains, remigius!
September 17th, 2009 at 10:29 am
"Those convicted of rape or consuming alcohol could be face up to 200 lashes of the cane meted out in public."
Good to see that rape is now seen as just as serious as the dreaful crime of imbibing fermented liquids.
September 17th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Adulterers can be stoned. However, for premarital sex the punishment is lashes of the cane.
Rape is recognized, but not rape in marriage. The new regional regulation in essence replaces the previous individual ones on gambling and drinking.
Homosexual acts attract a caning and a fine paid in pure gold or a jail sentence. The jail sentence is seemingly the option for those who cannot find the gold.
I have written a review of the regulation over at my blog http://therabexperience.blogsp.....ton…
September 17th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
This was a reply to Tim's comment above, but I seem to have pressed the wrong button again!
September 17th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
In Somalia millions are suffering from drought: in Aceh (another extreme fundamentalist Muslim region) thousands died in the Tsunami. Is this how Allah rewards his faithful followers? If I were them I would be seriously questioning whether my prayers were actually having the desired effect!
September 17th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
When I first read this report I was somewhat confused by the fact that it seemed that even the fundamentalist Muslims in Aceh did not really want Sharia Law introduced. I now see that there is a lot of politics involved in this action. See this FT report from 2006:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c4788c.....f-0…
September 17th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
"I think they are all carrying blank cards and Allah photoshops the message in later. "
maybe not, but we could
Photoshop competition anyone?
September 17th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
I wonder what penalty loudly criticising sharia law carries?
September 17th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Since Paedophilia is apparently now a punishable offence, I bet mo is glad he's not still around. I wonder what age they consider to be the limit. Most muslims seem to think that 9yo is perfectly acceptable. Mo himself married his favourite wife when she was only 6. All very confusing!
It will also be interesting to see if anyone is actually convicted of rape (or paedophilia) since it seems to be standard practice in islamic countries. Most raped women in islamic countries will never report it because they know that what usually what happens next is that they will often be raped again by the police then swiftly convicted of adultery and stoned to death. This must be a serious bummer for muslim men so maybe this is just a trick to convince women to speak up so that they can then get to participate in some stoning.
Apart from that they seem like nice people though.
(I added the line above because otherwise I get accused of being an extremist, a racist and a biggot. I wouldn't want anyone to think I was being unfair on the kind of people who stone women to death for choosing their own sexual partners. Now that would be extreme!)
Godless not gormless
September 17th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Since Paedophilia is apparently now a punishable offence, I bet mo is glad he's not still around. I wonder what age they consider to be the limit. Most muslims seem to think that 9yo is perfectly acceptable. Mo himself married his favourite wife when she was only 6. All very confusing!
It will also be interesting to see if anyone is actually convicted of rape (or paedophilia) since it seems to be standard practice in islamic countries. Most raped women in islamic countries will never report it because they know that what usually happens next is that they will often be raped again by the police then swiftly convicted of adultery and stoned to death. This must be a serious bummer for muslim men so maybe this is just a trick to convince women to speak up so that they can then get to participate in some stoning.
Apart from that they seem like nice people though.
(I added the line above because otherwise I get accused of being an extremist, a racist and a biggot. I wouldn't want anyone to think I was being unfair on the kind of people who stone women to death for choosing their own sexual partners. Now that would be extreme!)
Godless not gormless
September 17th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
I don't know about that, Rog, but Bustanul Arafin is almost an anagram to start with!
"Fain Burst U Anal" – sounds quite scary!!
September 17th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
I had to delete my original anagram of Bustanul Arifin as I couldn't even get his proper name right! I have now come up with "I Fist U Anal Burn", which I sincerely hope is OK (well – as far as the letters used are concerned anyway!). I just feel that there must be something better there somewhere. I've been trying to anagram those placard messages but not succeeding 100%. Someone give remigius a nudge!!
September 17th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
I wonder about unintended consequences here. What is the likely long term effect of various countries rushing headlong back to the seventh century? The most likely consequence is that no one with any sense will want to live there and all those who can will leave. Westernised countries will end up putting these exiles up and then a minority will start demanding sharia law in the country that they have escaped to. Or am I being paranoid and unduly pessimistic?
September 17th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
The human race with its combined, ever -increasing knowledge [and aided by evolution] should be moving forward us to an age of equality and fairness, putting bigotry, hatred and superstition behind us. While us rationalists surge ahead in our effort to create an era of egalitarianism, those who have god/allah disease continue to push us back to the dark-ages, as is evident with this news from Indonesia. The lunatics have indeed taken over the asylum.
September 17th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
What about those party, dancing boys in Afghanistan? Which wacko fundamentalists are correct in their reading of Mo? Isn't raping your boy toy both pedophilia and homosexuality? And (most likely) adultery? Is there enough gold in Aceh for this? Maybe the wack jobs in Aceh are in league with those in Somalia who are using "Sharia" law to yank out people's gold teeth? I don't know which conspiracy is bigger–the Gypsies stealing Christian babies to sell to the Jews to eat, or the Somali's stealing gold teeth to give to the pedophile, boy-raping, adultering muslims in Aceh to absolve them of their boy-raping?
September 17th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
I sinful Arab nut!
September 17th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Or when considering the death penalty for consenting sex…
Slain but unfair.
September 17th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Unfair I ban lust
September 17th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
See how complex islam really is? And we all thought it was straight forward silly nonsense.
Godless not gormless
September 17th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
I lust in arab fun.
September 17th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Unfortunately, you're not being paranoid. This is probably quite likely. They never learn, do they!
Godless not gormless