INDONESIA - Christian woman caned 30 times according to Islamic law.

INDONESIA - Christian woman caned according to Islamic law. (Fides).

An elderly 60-year-old Protestant Christian woman was caned in Indonesia, the first time a Sharia law punishment, has been meted out to a non-Muslim.

As Fides learns, this is what happened to Remita Sinaga, who was convicted of selling alcohol, after the police seized 50 bottles of alcohol from her shop and whipped nearly 30 times with a rattan cane, before a crowd of hundreds in the town of Takengon, in the province of Aceh.

Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that applies Sharia law, reserved for Muslim citizens, but also non-Muslims can choose it. As some local officials pointed out, the woman chose flogging
voluntarily, thinking that the alternative would be worse: a period of detention, according to the law in force. In 2015, in fact, the Indonesian government banned the sale of alcohol in small shops.

In 2002, the Indonesian central government granted to the province of Aceh, home to 4.7 million people the majority of whom are Muslims, a regime of "special autonomy". The new Islamic Penal Code was approved in the province in 2014 and entered into force in October 2015.

The Code punishes with flogging sexual relations outside marriage, consumption or sale of alcohol, gambling.

According to the Indonesian NGO "Kontras", which defends and promotes human rights, "flogging is an inhuman practice and is a form of torture that should not be allowed in Indonesia"

Canada's largest Protestant Church poised to boycott Israeli settlement products.

Canada's largest Protestant Church poised to boycott Israeli settlement products.(CH).The United Church of Canada (YNet), the country’s largest Protestant denomination, voted Wednesday in favor of a consumers' boycott of goods produced in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, Canadian media reported. According to the Toronto Star, Wednesday’s vote was preceded by nearly six hours of delibertions. The report quoted Bruce Gregersen, a United Church general council spokesperson, as saying that the boycott was "a significant step."
The UCC's general council will vote Friday on whether to make a boycott a permanent part of church policy. Canada's Jewish community was stunned to learn of the decision.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Toronto issues a statement saying that it was "Outraged by the decision by the United Church of Canada to single out Israeli communities for boycott. "The Centre is equally offended by the Church's expression of regret for previously calling for Palestinian recognition of Israel's Jewish character," the group said on its website. "
This decision represents a radical shift in the United Church's policies, betrays the views of the vast majority of its members, and flies in the face of decades of constructive interfaith dialogue. "In choosing this morally reckless path, the United Church has equally dismissed the concerns of the overwhelming majority of the Canadian Jewish community."
David Koschitzky, Chairman of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said: "No mainstream Jewish organization, including Canadian Friends of Peace Now, endorses Boycott. Even the leadership of the American left-wing group J-Street has publicly condemned boycotts as counterproductive. "Support for the boycott tactic is limited to a small fringe. Tragically, the UCC chose to join that fringe, rather than listen to the nearly 100,000 families who are members of Jewish Federations across Canada, and on whose behalf the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs speaks. "The Church equally ignored some 70 Canadian Rabbis of all streams and from every province, representing tens of thousands of Canadian Jewish families, who made their opposition known in writing," he said.
In declaring a boycott, the UCC has "Damaged the Church's standing amongst Canadians and have profoundly compromised the UCC's ability to play any constructive role in making a positive impact for peace," Koschitzky concluded. The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies said they were troubled and saddened. “I don’t know if church members truly understand how utterly offensive and imbalanced this proposal is, or whether a latent anti-semitism within the church is slowly coming back to life,” said Avi Benlolo, president and CEO, in a statement. Read the full story here, more here.