BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AFP) — Four men were flogged in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province on Thursday for engaging in online gambling, local officials said, the first public lashing of the year under the region’s strict Islamic law.

Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, is the only province in the Muslim-majority nation where offences such as gambling, adultery, and alcohol consumption are punishable by public caning.

In front of dozens of people at a public park in Banda Aceh city, one man received 22 lashes while three others were caned 8 and 9 times, depending on their betting and income, said Islamic Law Enforcement Chief Roslina, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

The men grimaced in pain as an executioner flogged their backs with a stick, after an Islamic leader delivered a sermon on repentance, according to an AFP reporter on the ground.

“One person received more lashes… because their wager and winnings exceeded the equivalent of two grams of gold. Meanwhile, the other three… were below that threshold,” Roslina told AFP.

The men had been caught red-handed gambling online at an internet cafe, she said.

Aceh began enforcing religious law after it was granted special autonomy in 2001, as part of an attempt by the central government to quell a long-running separatist insurgency.

Human rights groups condemn public caning as cruel, but it has strong support among Aceh’s population.

In 2021, two Christian men were publicly flogged 40 times for drinking alcohol and gambling, a rare instance of non-Muslims facing such a punishment.

A male couple were flogged nearly 80 times each that same year for having gay sex, which is outlawed under local Islamic law.