A young couple in Indonesia was publicly caned Thursday after allegedly kissing during a TikTok livestream. The couple — a 22-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman — each received 21 lashes, according to The Associated Press.

Background

The pair, who were detained in March, had already spent four months in prison prior to the punishment, which ultimately reduced their sentence from 25 lashes to 21, the AP said. According to local authorities, the couple filmed a TikTok video inside a car one night in March.

As the video went viral, they were subsequently apprehended for what officials described as an ‘immoral act.’ The court also confiscated a cellphone and a USB flash drive containing the TikTok video, which authorities promised to destroy, according to the AP.

Reactions

A Banda Aceh resident who attended the caning, 22-year-old Aini Nadhirah, said she believed the punishment was ‘entirely justified.’ ‘In my opinion, this caning is entirely justified because it serves as a warning to other Aceh residents to be more careful when using social media,’ Nadhirah said, according to the AP.

Aceh is the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia that enforces its own Islamic Criminal Code governing moral conduct. The province’s right to implement Islamic law was granted by Indonesia’s secular central government around 2005 as part of a peace deal to end a separatist insurgency.

Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.