Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below. Just click on the icons to get to the download page. They have been accused of not wearing appropriate Muslim clothing and for loitering outdoors after midnight, both deemed to violate the Islamic moral code.
The women were arrested on Saturday in a number of late-night cafes and coffee shops in a string of sharia-enforcement patrols conducted by public order officers and sharia police in Aceh. According to Rita, it was believed that certain teenagers choosing to hang out in coffee shops until the early hours were involved in prostitution.
Besides detaining the girls, the sharia police in Banda Aceh also arrested a number of youngsters dressed as punks and female beauty-parlor employees who were allegedly caught engaging in immoral acts.
They will be released in one day pending the completion of the investigation. They were jailed without being given access to legal advice. Separately, Gita, a teenager from Jakarta, who has only been in Banda Aceh for three months, was one of the teenagers detained. She said her arrest was without evidence and she strongly protested the inappropriate handling of the incident by the WH officers. Gita said she and her fellow detainees were in a small crowded cell that lacked sufficient space to lie down.
She said the sharia police officers had seized her cell phone, thus, she was unable to call her family to tell them she was being held by the police. Despite her anger, she said she stood no chance against the sharia police. Since the approval, the sharia police have often conducted raids urging women, including non-Muslims, to wear Muslim dress.
