BANDA ACEH

Two women have been caned in staunchly Muslim Aceh province for selling food during the fasting hours of Ramadhan, an official said.

Hundreds of people gathered to watch as Murni Amris, 27, received three lashes and Rukiah Abdullah, 22, received two on Friday at a mosque in the city of Jantho, southeast of the provincial capital Banda Aceh.

“The two women were found selling rice in a stall at noon during Ramadhan. Sharia (Islamic law) forbids selling food during fasting hours at Ramadhan,” Aceh sharia police head Marzuki Abdullah said.

Amris owned the foodstall where Abdullah was selling the rice.

Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, is one of several areas of Muslim-majority Indonesia where Islamic sharia laws have been adopted.

Muslims are supposed to fast from dawn to dusk during the holy month of Ramadan, which straddled August and September this year, but there are exceptions in cases such as illness or pregnancy.