February 17, 2010
Agence France-Presse, 17 February 2010
Malaysia said Wednesday that three women have been caned
under Islamic law for having extramarital sex, in a first for the
Muslim-majority country.
Officials said the three women were caned on February 9 at
a women’s prison outside the capital Kuala Lumpur after being
convicted of “khalwat” or “close proximity” between an unmarried
couple.
“I hope this will not be misunderstood until it defiles the
purity of Islam,” Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said according
to state media.
“The punishment is to teach and give a chance to those who have
fallen off the path to return and build a better life in future,”
he said, adding that none of the three sustained any injuries.
Hishammuddin said the three women and four men were caned
following a December decision in the religious courts — which
operate in parallel to the civil system in Malaysia.
He said one woman was released from prison last Sunday while
another will be freed in several days and the third will be
released in June.
Malaysian Islamic authorities triggered uproar last year when
they sentenced mother-of-two Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno to six
strokes of the cane for drinking beer.
Her case, which was to have been the first time a woman was
caned under Islamic law in Malaysia, is under review and human
rights groups have urged religious authorities to reverse the
sentence.
Kartika’s case has been given wide media coverage but the case
of the three women convicted of extramarital sex came as a
surprise.
Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan said it was worrying that
the punishment had gone ahead even as the caning issue was being
hotly debated by Muslim scholars, religious groups and human rights
activists.
“The impression was that Kartika’s case would be the first so
I’ve got no idea what has happened,” he told AFP.
“It’s not as if this is the Middle East… it’s not a good signal
that they’re sending out.”
“We are against any form of corporal punishment, for men or
women,” he added. “The fact is that any form of whipping is
barbaric.” – AFP
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/02/17/malaysia-three-women-caned-for-extramarital-sex/