Two
Malaysian women were caned Monday for having lesbian sex in violation
of strict Islamic laws, sparking outrage from activists at the “inhuman
and degrading” punishment.
The women, dressed in
white dresses and Muslim headscarves, were each given six strokes as
they sat on stools in a sharia court, with one of them breaking down in
tears.
Campaigners said it was the first time women in Malaysia
have been caned for violating a sharia regulation which forbids same-sex
relations. They said the case highlights the worsening climate for gay
people in the Muslim-majority country.
The country operates a
dual-track legal system. Islamic courts can handle religious and family
matters for Muslim citizens, as well as cases such as adultery.
The
women, aged 22 and 32, were arrested in April by Islamic enforcement
officers after they were found in a car in a public square in the
northern state of Terengganu, one of the country’s most conservative
areas.
The pair, whose identities have not been revealed, pleaded
guilty last month to breaking Islamic laws and were sentenced to be
whipped and fined 3,300 ringgit ($800).
They were caned at the Sharia High Court in the state capital Kuala Terengganu.
A
judge read out their sentence just before 10:00 am (0300 GMT) and then
officials meted out the punishment using thin canes in front of a packed
courtroom, according to a journalist in the court.
The younger woman sobbed but the elder one showed no reaction.
‘Grave rights violation’
The
punishment sparked a barrage of criticism, with Malaysian rights group
Women’s Aid Organisation saying it was “outraged and appalled by this
grave violation of human rights.
“Sexual acts between two consenting adults should not be criminalised, let alone punished with whipping.”
Amnesty
International said it was a “dreadful reminder of the depth of
discrimination LGBT people face in the country and a sign that the new
government condones the use of inhuman and degrading punishments, much
like its predecessor”.
Court official Wan Abdul Malik Wan Sidek
defended the punishment, saying it was not as tough as caning carried
out for numerous crimes under Malaysia’s civil law.
Caning under
Islamic law is carried out with a relatively thin cane on subjects who
are fully clothed, and is more about humiliation than causing pain.
A
reformist alliance took power in Malaysia at historic May elections,
fuelling hopes that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people
might face less discrimination in a country where authorities have
routinely targeted them in the past.
But instead, campaigners say
the environment for homosexuals appears to have deteriorated markedly in
the mult-ethnic country. About 60 percent of the 32 million inhabitants
are Muslim.
The Islamic affairs minister has spoken out against
homosexuals and ordered pictures of LGBT activists to be removed from a
public exhibition, while a transgender woman was brutally attacked in
the southern state of Negeri Sembilan.
Thilaga Sulathireh, from
transgender rights group Justice for Sisters, said the caning would only
“increase the impunity of perpetrators to carry out acts of violence”
aimed at gay people.
Lesbian sex is illegal for Muslims in
Malaysia under Islamic laws, but not for the country’s substantial
minorities of ethnic Chinese and Indians.
Sodomy is a crime for
all ethnic groups under a law dating back to British colonial rule,
although the statute is rarely enforced.
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