Indonesia police arrest 56 men at Jakarta "gay sex party"

JAKARTA: Indonesian police arrested 56 men at a "gay sex party" in the capital Jakarta, three of whom could face up to 15 years in jail on charges of breaching pornography laws, a spokesperson said.

The men were arrested on Saturday at a South Jakarta hotel after a "same-sex sex party," police spokesperson Ade Ary Syam Indradi told reporters late on Monday. Three of those arrested were named as criminal suspects for organising the event.

Homosexuality is not illegal in most of Indonesia, including the capital, but it is generally considered a taboo subject in the Muslim-majority country.

"The event was ... merely based on pleasure that they wanted to seek," Indradi said, adding authorities found condoms and HIV medications at the party.

The three named suspects were accused of facilitating "pornography" services, which carries a maximum jail term of 15 years, Indradi said.

Activists have said the anti-pornography laws are often misused. Hundreds were arrested in police raids of a club, a hotel, and a spa in 2017, which Amnesty International said were further evidence of "an increasingly hostile environment" for the gay community.

A survey by the think-tank Pew Research Center in 2020 showed that 80% of Indonesians believe homosexuality "should not be accepted by society".