A member of the Aceh Ulema Council (MPU), which oversees the implementation of sharia in the province, was publicly caned in Banda Aceh after he was caught alone with a woman who was not his wife.

As punishment, the man, Mukhlis bin Muhammad, received 28 lashes with a cane in Banda Aceh’s Taman Sari on Thursday, while the woman, Nurmawati Binti Abdurrahman, received 25 lashes, Antara news agency reported.