WASHINGTON: Amnesty International on Wednesday urged Malaysia to end a caning “epidemic,” saying that authorities have meted out the punishment to thousands of men in addition to the high-profile case of three women.
Malaysian authorities said Wednesday they had caned three women for having extramarital sex in violation of Islamic law, a first in the Muslim-majority country.
But Amnesty International said the case was the “just the tip of the iceberg” and that Malaysia often caned men for routine offences.
Citing Malaysian authorities, the London-based human rights group said authorities had caned more than 35,000 people — mostly non-Malaysians — for immigration violations since 2002.
“These thousands of cases point to an epidemic of caning in Malaysia,” said Donna Guest, the group’s deputy Asia-Pacific director.
“The Malaysian government needs to abolish this cruel and degrading punishment, no matter what the offence,” she said in a statement.
The latest caning case will fuel a debate over rising “Islamisation” in the religiously diverse nation, where authorities last year sentenced a mother-of-two to six strokes of the cane for drinking beer in a nightclub.
What about the men, asks SIS
Sisters in Islam (SIS), a Malaysian NGO, also condemned the government’s decision to cane the three Muslim women for syariah offences.
“Given that several issues on syariah and constitutional grounds, sentencing guidelines and Malaysia’s commitments to international human rights instruments that were raised on the Kartika case remain unresolved, we question the government’s motive in proceeding with the caning of Muslim women,” said its executive director Hamidah Marican in a statement.
“And to do this surreptitiously implies that the government wanted to hide this degrading and unjust treatment from public scrutiny,” she added.
She asked whether the men involved were also found guilty for illicit sex and similarly sentenced and caned.
SIS also urged the government to review caning as a form of punishment as it violates international human rights principles which regard whipping and other forms of corporal punishment as cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
A lawless 1Malaysia
PKR leader Zaid Ibrahim has also weighed in with his criticism of the latest caning.
Taking a poke at Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s 1Malaysia project, the former Umno man said Malaysia had become lawless.
He also questioned the disparity which appeared between the syariah law and the federal law as a result of the caning.
“Only in lawless 1Malaysia can a state court order caning for women although federal law precludes women from such punishment,” said Zaid in his Twitter and Facebook.
Awam wants explanation
The All Women’s Action Society (Awam) also expressed its shock that the government had carried out the whipping sentence without addressing the serious issues raised by Kartika’s case.
“The Home Minister needs to explain why the government allowed the punishment to be carried out in secret on an issue that is of high public interest with very far ranging and damaging consequences,” said Awam’s president Sofia Lim in a statement today.
She said that “the expediency and the secrecy with which this matter was carried out reek of bad faith.”
FMT
18/02/10
Malaysian authorities said Wednesday they had caned three women for having extramarital sex in violation of Islamic law, a first in the Muslim-majority country.
But Amnesty International said the case was the “just the tip of the iceberg” and that Malaysia often caned men for routine offences.
Citing Malaysian authorities, the London-based human rights group said authorities had caned more than 35,000 people — mostly non-Malaysians — for immigration violations since 2002.
“These thousands of cases point to an epidemic of caning in Malaysia,” said Donna Guest, the group’s deputy Asia-Pacific director.
“The Malaysian government needs to abolish this cruel and degrading punishment, no matter what the offence,” she said in a statement.
The latest caning case will fuel a debate over rising “Islamisation” in the religiously diverse nation, where authorities last year sentenced a mother-of-two to six strokes of the cane for drinking beer in a nightclub.
What about the men, asks SIS
Sisters in Islam (SIS), a Malaysian NGO, also condemned the government’s decision to cane the three Muslim women for syariah offences.
“Given that several issues on syariah and constitutional grounds, sentencing guidelines and Malaysia’s commitments to international human rights instruments that were raised on the Kartika case remain unresolved, we question the government’s motive in proceeding with the caning of Muslim women,” said its executive director Hamidah Marican in a statement.
“And to do this surreptitiously implies that the government wanted to hide this degrading and unjust treatment from public scrutiny,” she added.
She asked whether the men involved were also found guilty for illicit sex and similarly sentenced and caned.
SIS also urged the government to review caning as a form of punishment as it violates international human rights principles which regard whipping and other forms of corporal punishment as cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
A lawless 1Malaysia
PKR leader Zaid Ibrahim has also weighed in with his criticism of the latest caning.
Taking a poke at Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s 1Malaysia project, the former Umno man said Malaysia had become lawless.
He also questioned the disparity which appeared between the syariah law and the federal law as a result of the caning.
“Only in lawless 1Malaysia can a state court order caning for women although federal law precludes women from such punishment,” said Zaid in his Twitter and Facebook.
Awam wants explanation
The All Women’s Action Society (Awam) also expressed its shock that the government had carried out the whipping sentence without addressing the serious issues raised by Kartika’s case.
“The Home Minister needs to explain why the government allowed the punishment to be carried out in secret on an issue that is of high public interest with very far ranging and damaging consequences,” said Awam’s president Sofia Lim in a statement today.
She said that “the expediency and the secrecy with which this matter was carried out reek of bad faith.”
FMT
18/02/10
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