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7 U. St. Thomas L.J. 603 (2009-2010)
Religious Freedom Implications of Sharia Implementation in Aceh, Indonesia

handle is hein.journals/usthomlj7 and id is 643 raw text is: ARTICLE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IMPLICATIONS OF SHARIA IMPLEMENTATION IN ACEH, INDONESIA ASMA T. UDDIN* INTRODUCTION On Monday, September 14, 2009, the provincial legislature in Aceh, Indonesia passed Sharia regulations imposing stringent criminal punish- ments for various sexual offenses, such as adultery and fornication.' Sharia, literally meaning way to a watering place, is a set of divine principles that regulate a Muslim's relationship with God and man by providing social, moral, religious, and legal guidance. It is implemented through fiqh, or Is- lamic jurisprudence, which is the science of interpreting religious texts in order to deduce legal rulings. The Acehnese Sharia regulations are the latest manifestations of a process of formal implementation of Sharia that began in 2002 in Aceh.2 Given the gravity of the associated punishments, the reg- ulations have caught national and international attention, with human rights activists across the world decrying the severity of the corporal punishments imposed by the regulations. Much less frequently scrutinized are the regula- tions' implications for other human rights-such as religious freedom. This paper analyzes these regulations' religious freedom implications for both Muslims and non-Muslims. Part I begins with an introduction to the religious freedom climate in Indonesia, including an overview of inter- national and domestic religious freedom law and the extent to which Indo- nesia conforms to that law. Part II focuses on Aceh: its history and special * Asma T. Uddin is the International Legal Fellow at the Becket Fund for Religious Lib- erty. I owe special thanks to Marie Connelly, Summer 2010 Intern at the Becket Fund, for her excellent research assistance and absolute devotion to the project. I would also like to thank the University of St. Thomas Law Journal staff for all their work on this article. Minor portions of this article appeared in documents prepared for use by the Becket Fund, and are used with permission. 1. Katie Hamann, Aceh Province Legislators Vote to Impose Stricter Sharia Law, VOICE OF AM., Sept. 15, 2009, http://www.voanews.comlenglish/news/a-13-2009-09-15-voa9-68709782. html. 2. Karishma Vaswani, On Patrol with Aceh's Sharia Police, BBC NEWS, http://news.bbc. co.uk/2/hi/8491195.stm (last updated Feb. 2, 2010). 603

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