Indonesian man to be chemically castrated for raping nine young girls

Muh Aris bin Syukur, an Indonesian man convicted of raping nine female children in the Mojokerto city of the Asian country, has been sentenced to chemical castration.

Chemical castration is a procedure that renders patients “temporarily impotent” by using anaphrodisiac drugs to reduce libido and sexual activity — with a single treatment being capable of lasting up to five years.

According to Coconuts Jakarta, Syukur’s verdict was delivered in a court in east Java under the “presidential regulation in lieu of law (Perppu)” after he was convicted of having carnal knowledge of the young girls between 2015 and 2018.

“We hereby give the additional sentence in the form of chemical castration to the convicted,” read the court ruling.

His case comes amid a landmark ruling that declares harsher punishment for sex offenders and would see him become the first to be sentenced with the new punitive measure in the country.

In 2016, President Joko Widodo signed the Perppu introducing the death penalty and chemical castration for convicted child molesters, which was ratified into law that same year by the house of parliament.

According to him, the new law would help combat the number of rape cases reported in the country.

“This regulation is intended to overcome the crisis caused by sexual violence against children. Sexual crimes against children are extraordinary crimes because they threaten the lives of children,” he explained.

The law, which enables judges to enact the death penalty and chemical castration for convicted pedophiles, has met ethical challenges that have also stalled the fixture of a date for executing Syukur’s punishment.

On the basis of a 2016 edict by the “medical ethics and honors council”, medical experts in the country have also refused to perform the procedure and advocated against the use of doctors as executors of the additional punishment.