The conservative Indonesian province of Aceh is considering the introduction of beheading as a punishment for murder, a top Islamic law official has said.
The province already carries out public caning as punishment for gay people, adulterers and gamblers.
Head of Aceh’s Sharia Law and Human Rights Office, Syukri M Yusuf, said the provincial government had asked his office to research beheading as a method of execution under Islamic law and to consult public opinion.
“Beheading is more in line with Islamic law and will cause a deterrent effect. A strict punishment is made to save human beings,” Yusuf told reporters. “We will begin to draft the law when our academic research is completed.”
Yusuf said if Sharia Law was consistently applied, then crime, particularly murder, would decrease significantly or disappear.
He said punishment for murderers had in practice been “relatively mild” and they could re-offend after release from prison. He pointed to Saudi Arabia as an example to follow in carrying out severe punishment for murder.
Aceh is the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia to practice Sharia Law, a concession made by the central government in 2005 to end a decades-long war for independence.
Indonesia has the death penalty as well for crimes such as murder and drug trafficking, which it carries out by firing squad.
Source: The Guardian
Photo courtesy of Associated Press
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