Thaindian News

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 18 (IANS) The recent caning Thursday of three Muslim women in Malaysia on charge of engaging in illicit sex drew angry protests from women’s groups, who complained of violation of their human rights and constitutional guarantees.
Some Muslim groups, on the other hand, said the caning should not be “sensationalised”, reported Star Online, web site of the Star newspaper.

Caning of those convicted under Islamic laws was earlier reserved for Muslim males, but these three Feb 9 became the first women to be caned in Malaysia.

All Women’s Action Society (Awam) president Sofia Lim Siu Ching said the home ministry needed to explain why the punishment was carried out in secret.

“The expediency and the secrecy reek of bad faith and betray a troubling disregard for public opinion on an issue that has drawn attention around the globe,” she said in a statement Thursday.

Sisters in Islam (SIS) executive director Hamidah Marican said the three cases constituted further discrimination against Muslim women in Malaysia, and asked if the men involved in these cases were similarly caned.

“It violates constitutional guarantees of equality and non-discrimination as the whipping of women under Syariah criminal offences legislation contradicts civil law where women are not punishable by caning under Section 289 of the Criminal Procedure Code,” she said.

Bar Council chairman Ragunath Kesavan urged the government to immediately review and abolish all forms of corporal punishment and to comply with international norms and principles.

Malaysian Assembly of Mosque Youths leader Mohammed Nawar Ariffin, however, said that society must look at the issue in “a broader context.”

“Look at the message behind the punishment. Illicit sex could easily lead to other social ills such as abortion and baby dumping. The punishment serves as a proposed solution for other social problems,” he said.

“There should be nothing wrong if the sentence is carried out properly in accordance with Syariah law,” he said.

Earlier, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein denied that it was inhumane to cane women who had committed syariah offences as the prisons department had taken measures to make the process a smooth one.

“Female offenders will only be caned by female officers and the former will be in a sitting position and clothed when the sentence is carried out,” New Straits Times quoted him as saying Thursday.

The issue of caning of women has ignited a fierce debate in the country after part-time model Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno was sentenced to be caned for drinking beer in July last year. Her sentence is yet to be carried out.