Indonesia province moves closer to death by stoning law

By Reza Munawir

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Muslims who commit adultery in Indonesia's Aceh province may be stoned to death under a controversial new sharia law passed by the local parliament on Monday.

Aceh is the only province in predominantly Muslim Indonesia to use sharia for its legal code, introduced as part of an autonomy deal in 2002.

The "qanun jinayat", or sharia law for crimes, covers adultery, consumption of alcohol, rape and homosexuality, according to the draft seen by Reuters. Adultery is punishable by stoning to death, while other punishments include caning, gold fines and imprisonment.

The new law could come into force as soon as next month.

The provincial government initially proposed the law but now says it rejects some of the clauses added by parliament and wants to make some further revisions.

A new parliament will be sworn in next month which may be more willing to tone down the law, some experts said.

"I disagree with the qanun, because it sounds inhumane, and it's not (parliament's) business to decide such things, especially for adultery," said Dian Sukma, a 21-year-old student. "I believe many people reject this, if they want a proof, let's do a poll."

Opponents and supporters of the new law demonstrated outside the parliament on Monday.