Indonesia Cops Hunt Down Women in Jeans

Religious police in Indonesia are cracking down on denim. During a raid yesterday,18 women caught riding motorbikes wearing headscarves and jeans were taken into custody and given long skirts to wear. Police also confiscated their pants. "I am not wearing sexy outfits, but they caught me like a terrorist only because of my jeans," one women tells AP. It is difficult to ride a motorbike in a skirt, she says.

Jeans-wearing violates a strict dress code imposed on Muslim women living in one district of the country's semi-autonomous Aceh province. Religious police have already distributed 20,000 long skirts and prohibited shops from selling tight dresses. The province made news last year for passing a law making adultery punishable by stoning to death. (More Indonesia stories.)