Adulterers will be stoned to death under draconian new laws passed in the Indonesian province of Aceh yesterday.

Hardline Muslim politicians in the semi-autonomous region unanimously passed the Sharia edict, under which single people will also be given 100 lashes for pre-marital sex, just weeks before a new, more moderate government dominated by the Aceh Party is due to take power.

Although the administration of Governor Irwandi Yusuf had opposed the legislation, when the chairman of the 69-seat regional parliament asked if the bill could be passed into law its members answered in unison: "Yes, it can."

The legislation, which has drawn immediate criticism from human rights groups, comes at a difficult time for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as he prepares to be sworn in for his second term in office.

Widely praised for restoring democracy to Indonesia, he now risks seeing his country once more viewed by the international community as a heartland of radical Islamism.

The stoning law is the most recent, and most draconian law to be introduced since 2001, when Jakarta allowed Aceh to replace Indonesia's criminal code with Sharia, partly to appease hardliners in the province.

Although the early regulations brought in under Sharia were relatively moderate, observers said they have seen a gradual tightening of the laws, most recently in 2006 when caning was introduced as punishment for women who did not wear headscarves.

Dozens of public canings have been carried out by the Sharia police since, although it seems to be more a symbolic than physical punishment. Strict regulations controlling the angle and power of the cane stroke protect the women from injury.

But human rights activists point out it would be impossible similarly to protect a woman who was sentenced to be stoned.

"They take pride in not hurting women when they cane them, but stoning is something very different," a human rights worker who asked not to be named told The Times. "You can't say you're not physically harming a woman when you're stoning her to death.

"The future is very bleak," she added. "In Aceh, once you give out this sort of candy out you can't take it back."

The new law also imposes tough sentences and fines, to be paid in kilograms of gold, for rape and paedophilia, and severe prison terms and public lashings for other "morally unacceptable"behaviour such as homosexuality.

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