13 men arrested at “gay sex party”

Indonesian religious extremists have led police to an alleged gay sex party where 13 men were arrested on the weekend.

According to The Jakarta Post, around 50 members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) barged into an apartment in South Jakarta late on Saturday night.

Police said that a member of the FPI had earlier heard about the gathering and went to investigate, where he found a group of shirtless men at the apartment.

He left and later returned to the residential complex accompanied by the mob and the police. Officers took the men into custody and also confiscated smartphones, condoms, and antiretroviral drugs.

The Post noted that there was no evidence that the men had broken any law. Homosexuality is not illegal in most of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

“We are not sure if there was any prostitution, all we know is they were playing some games there,” said Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono.

The FPI is considered a radical religious group and is known for its involvement in hate crimes and violence in the name of Islam.

The latest arrests follow President Joko Widodo’s insistence last month that, “The police must act [to protect LGBT people]. There should be no discrimination against anyone”. His statement was in response to growing concern about a sharp rise in anti-LGBT sentiment in Indonesia in the past year.

Local government and education officials have called for discriminatory anti-LGBT measures, including suggesting bans on LGBT student groups on university campuses and ordering police to halt an HIV outreach event for gay and bisexual men.

Communication and broadcasting bureaucrats also moved to block LGBT content in the media and ordered social media and messaging apps to remove same-sex themed emoticons from their services.

The Indonesian Psychiatrists’ Association affirmed that it still views homosexuality as a mental disorder, while Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu claimed that LGBT people are a threat to the country.

Homosexuality is legal in Indonesia, except for Muslims in the Aceh province. The national government allowed the province to introduce a by-law through which Muslims found guilty of homosexuality face up to 100 lashes and up to 100 months in prison.