Lianne Milton

Reportage: Guardians of Morality

In 2001, the provincial government of Aceh, Indonesia, implemented a moderate form of sharia law, or Islamic law.

The Wilayatul Hisbah, a special unit established to enforce sharia law in the province capital of Banda Aceh, patrols the streets for people drinking alcohol, gambling, unmarried couples sitting too close, or engaged in pre-marital sex, and women wearing tight clothes or not wearing an Islamic headscraf, a jilbab.

The force has more than 1500 officers, including 50 women, and they carry no weapons while on partrol.

In September 2009, the provincial parliament approved a new criminal code that includes a provision for adulterers to be stoned to death and the flogging of homosexuals, but has not been signed into effect by Governor Irwand Yusuf.

This photo essay follows the sharia policewoman on a daily patrol.

   
  
Sharia Police, or the morality police, speak to a young man about sitting too close to his girlfriend along the jetty in Ulele, just outside of Banda Aceh. Banda Aceh enforces a moderate form of Islamic Law.
     
  
Sharia Police, or the morality police, out on patrol along the jetty in Ulele. They look for young couples sitting too close together or wearing tight-fitted clothes not appropriate for life under Islamic Law. Banda Aceh enforces a moderate form of Islamic Law.
   
Sharia Police, or the morality police, speak to young men making sure they are following Islamic Law, along the jetty in Ulele. Aceh is the only province in Indonesia to enforce Islamic law.
   
     
  
   
Sharia Police, or the morality police, go to pray at a mosque. Banda Aceh enforces a moderate form of Islamic Law.