BANDA ACEH, 31 July 2006 - Two people in Indonesia's province of Aceh have been caned for adultery under Islamic sharia law. The punishment was handed down to a 23-year-old widow and a 35-year-old married man, according to Tengku Marnus Labsyar, Head of the South Aceh Sharia's office.

Television footage showed first the man and then the woman given nine and seven strokes respectively with a rattan stick on Friday. The pair were on a platform surrounded by a crowd in the compound of a mosque in Samadua, a town in the south of Aceh.

Aceh courts obtained the freedom to implement sharia law in 2003 as part of an autonomy package the Indonesian government offered in an attempt to end a separatist conflict in the province. Aceh has previously caned people under sharia law for gambling and stealing, according to the Reuters news agency.

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