Big Islamic debate: Should adulterers be stoned to death...

Nothing like an Islamic debate...this one is in the Indonesian province of Aceh...

Indonesian and staunchly Muslim Aceh province asked provincial lawmakers to hold off including stoning to death as a punishment for married adulterers in a new bill set to pass into law. Aceh provincial parliament is scheduled to pass the new strict form of Islamic criminal law on Monday.

"For the time being, we do not agree that stoning people to death should be included in the punishment for married adulterers," Aceh provincial secretary Husni Bahri Top said.

"There should be an in-depth assessment based on various sources in the Koran, opinions from Islamic preachers and an assessment of the techniques for how to implement it."

The bill currently stipulates that unmarried people who commit adultery should be caned one hundred times and married people should be stoned to death.

It also covers issues such as consumption of alcohol, gambling and rape but not murder, robbery and corruption.

Aceh has so far only partially adopted sharia law, enforcing modest Muslim dress codes, mandatory prayers five times a day, fasting and the giving of alms to the poor.