JAKARTA: Indonesia鈥檚 top justices narrowly voted against a petition that sought to criminalize homosexual sex and heterosexual outside marriage.
The Ulema Council described the decision as 鈥渁nother blow鈥� to the country鈥檚 predominantly Muslim population. 鈥淲e really regret the decision,鈥� council spokesman Muhyiddin Junaidi told Arab News.
Five out of nine judges rejected in its entirety the petition filed by 12 people under the conservative Family Love Alliance (AILA).
The decision came after the court in November ruled in favor of religious freedom, ordering the state to list indigenous faiths and other religions, apart from the country鈥檚 six officially recognized ones, in citizens鈥� national identity cards.
AILA had demanded that the court amend three articles in the Criminal Code by expanding the definition of adultery to include non-marital sex.
The group鈥檚 main arguments for the amendments were 鈥渇amily resilience鈥� and 鈥減rotection of religious values in Indonesia,鈥� as stated in the court document, which said the authority to amend laws lies with MPs, not the court.
A Jakarta-based rights group and one of the ruling鈥檚 proponents, the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR), welcomed the decision.
鈥淚f the petition had been granted, there would鈥檝e been over-criminalization in the country, and the state would be interfering too much in citizens鈥� private domain,鈥� the ICJR鈥檚 executive director, Supriyadi Widodo Eddyono, told Arab News.
Rita Soebagio, one of the petitioners, told Arab News that the court decision 鈥渟hows that we face an uphill battle to instil religious norms in our society.鈥� She said the Criminal Code contains Western values from the Dutch colonial era.
Indonesian court rejects petition against extramarital sex
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