Unmarried couple who had s*x receive an agonising 100 lashes each as part of Sharia Law group caning punishment which saw one woman whipped until she fell unconscious

A couple were publicly flogged in Indonesia today for having sex outside of marriage in the country's only region to apply a version of Sharia law.

The man and woman, whose ages were not disclosed, were each given 100 lashes with a rattan cane in a public park in Banda Aceh as dozens watched.

The punishment in the staunchly Islamic Aceh province was so severe that the woman collapsed and lost consciousness during the whipping.

'We implement Islamic law in Aceh, so whenever someone violates it, we have to carry out punishments like the caning we just conducted,' Rajesh Kana, an official from the local prosecutors' office, told local media.

Sexual relations between unmarried people are outlawed in Aceh.

Police flogged the pair with a rattan cane, according to a reporter at the scene.

They were among six people flogged on Tuesday.

Four others received between eight and 29 strokes each for offences such as having physical contact with a member of the opposite sex or drinking alcohol.

A woman who was sentenced to 27 lashes fainted at the last whip of the rattan stick and had to be treated by paramedics.

Caning retains strong support in Aceh to punish a range of offences that also include gambling and gay sex.

In January, Sharia police in Aceh caned an unmarried couple 140 times each - likely the severest punishment since Sharia law was implemented in the province in 2015.

The couple, a man and a woman, were struck on their backs with a rattan stick in a public park on Thursday in the province of Aceh while dozens of people watched.

Sexual relations between an unmarried couple are strictly outlawed in Aceh, the only place in Indonesia to impose a version of Sharia.

The woman fainted after enduring her brutal punishment and was escorted to an ambulance.

In total, the pair received 140 lashes: 100 for sex outside marriage and 40 for consuming alcohol, according to the head of Banda Aceh's Sharia police, Muhammad Rizal.

Pictures of the public canings showed the woman kneeling as a masked man whipped her repeatedly with a cane, while another image showed her wiping away tears.

The woman was also pictured being wheeled off in a stretcher following her beatings, while her partner appeared to grimace in pain in separate photographs.

Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim-majority country, but officially recognises six religions as well as indigenous beliefs.

The couple was among six people flogged for breaking the Islamic code, including a sharia police officer and his female partner, who were caught in close proximity in a private place.

That couple received 23 strikes each.

'As promised, we make no exceptions, especially not for our own members. This certainly tarnishes our name,' Rizal said.

Caning retains strong support in Aceh to punish a range of offences, including gambling, drinking alcohol, having gay sex and having sexual relations outside marriage.