Young unmarried couple brutally caned in Indonesia for 'affectionate contact'

A 20-year-old woman was punished under Shariah law with five agonising lashes

Nur Elita screams during caning as part of her sentence in the courtyard of Baiturrahman mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia's Aceh province (Reuters)

A young unmarried woman and a man have been publically caned in Indonesia’s Aceh province for being "too intimate" with each other.

The two university students, 23-year-old Wahyudi Saputra and 20-year-old Nur Elita, were caned for “khalwat” – affectionate contact – in front of a crowd, according to the The Jakarta Post. They were struck five times each and Elita was reportedly carried by officials to an ambulance after the punishment.

Wahyudi Saputra gets whipped in front of the public for violating the sharia law, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, (EPA)

Four other men were caned for “indecency and gambling”, prohibited under Islamic law.

All the victims were punished in the front yard of the Baiturrahim mosque in Banda Aceh, and one onlooker was Deputy Mayor Zainal Arifin.

Nur Elita is carried to an ambulance after being struck five times (Getty)

“Take these punishments as a lesson. What has been done by these convicts should not be taken as an example. And I hope their canings in Meuraxa district today will be the last ever,” he said, according to Antara.

Aceh is the only region in Indonesia that implements this system of Shariah law and has done so since 2003 when it was granted special autonomy. Shariah law is still implemented across the Middle East and in Isis territories.