Indonesian officials have arrested almost 150 men in the country’s clearest crackdown against gay men.
Authorities have arrested 144 men in Jakarta, Indonesia‘s capital city on Monday, THEGAYUK has learnt.
The men were allegedly attending a party at a sauna when the police raided the venue and captured 144 men, under broad pornography laws. The broadly written laws have been used to unfairly target the gay community in the past.
Despite homosexuality not being illegal in the majority of the country, the men were lined up at in front of a sign with the slogan “press conference” emblazoned on it. Police also paraded various costumes also found at the party, in front of the press.
Same-sex activity is, however, illegal in the Muslim-majority province of Aceh, where Sharia law is used to govern its people.
The police have been criticised for releasing pictures of the raid, some of which exposed the identities of the men to their families, friends and employers. Homosexuality is frowned upon in Indonesia and there could be social repercussions being associated with this arrest.
The reports are on the back of the horrific news that two men, in Aceh province, whose private room was broken into by vigilantes, were lashed 83 times for same-sex activity. They were sentenced to 85 lashes but the punishment was reduced as the pair had already spent time in prison.