Putri Rahmah Nur Hakim and Irwan Abdullah and Mayadina Rohmi Musfiroh and Suraya Sintang and Ahamed Sarjoon Razick (2025) Contesting sharia and human rights in the digital sphere: Media representations of the caning controversy under the Qanun Jinayat in Aceh. Journal of Islamic Law, 6 (2). pp. 206-235. ISSN 2721-5032
![[img]](https://eprints.ums.edu.my/style/images/fileicons/text.png) |
Text
FULLTEXT.pdf Restricted to Registered users only Download (773kB) | Request a copy |
Abstract
The controversy surrounding the implementation of Aceh’s Qanun No. 6 of 2014 on Islamic Criminal Law (Qanun Jinayat), particularly regarding corporal punishment through public caning, has been extensively examined from normative and political perspectives. However, scholarly attention remains limited in exploring how this issue is represented and reproduced within digital media spaces, despite the increasing significance of online platforms in shaping public opinion and negotiating legal meaning in a digitalized society. This article analyzes how online media narratives frame the enforcement of Qanun Jinayat and how digital discourses reflect and influence public perceptions of the legitimacy, ethics, and effectiveness of Islamic criminal law amidst tensions between local religious values and universal human rights principles. Employing a ethnographic approach combined with framing discourse analysis, the study examines national and international online news articles published between November 2024 and January 2025, through the lens of three legal dimensions: law in the idea, law in the book, and law in action. The findings reveal stark narrative polarization: local media emphasize religio-cultural legitimacy and procedural legality grounded in special autonomy, while international media and human rights organizations highlight discriminatory practices, inconsistent implementation, and violations of individual rights. This study demonstrates that digital media function not merely as information conduits, but as discursive agents that actively shape, contest, and reconstruct the legal and moral legitimacy of Sharia in contemporary Indonesia. Consequently, Qanun Jinayat must be understood not only as a legal text but as a socially negotiated construct within the digital public sphere.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keyword: | Aceh’s Qanun Jinayat, Digital Media, Human Rights, Public Caning, Sharia |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BP Islam. Bahaism. Theosophy, etc > BP1-610 Islam. Bahai Faith. Theosophy, etc. > BP1-253 Islam > BP171-173 Relation of Islam to other religions H Social Sciences > HM Sociology (General) > HM(1)-1281 Sociology > HM811-821 Deviant behavior. Social deviance |
| Department: | CENTRE > Centre for the Promotion of Knowledge and Language Learning |
| Depositing User: | JUNAINE JASNI - |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Sep 2025 10:58 |
| Last Modified: | 03 Sep 2025 10:58 |
| URI: | https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/45069 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |