KUALA TERENGGANU: A 42-year-old Malaysian man was publicly flogged in Terengganu on Friday (Dec 27) for the Islamic crime of khalwat, or shut proximity between a person and a girl not associated by household ties.
The uncommon punishment, which has fueled vigorous debate, occurred on the Al-Muktafi Billah Shah Mosque in Kuala Terengganu after Friday prayers.
Carpenter Mohd Affendi Awang, a father of 5, is the primary particular person to be caned for repeated khalwat offenses beneath Terengganu’s Syariah Criminal Offenses (Takzir) Enactment 2022, which got here into drive on January 1, native media reported .
He was sentenced to 6 lashes on November 20 by Terengganu Syariah High Court choose Kamalruazmi Ismail.
He pleaded responsible to committing khalwat with a 52-year-old lady at a home in Pengkalan Ranggon village, Kemaman, at 1.40am on June 16. It was the third time he had been caught for the crime.
He was additionally fined RM4,000, plus six months’ imprisonment if he fails to pay the fantastic.
Affendi’s flogging is the second case of public flogging reported in Terengganu.
The first occurred in 2018, when two ladies had been caned six occasions within the state High Court for making an attempt to have intercourse in a automotive.
As was the case in 2018, Affendi’s flogging sparked debate, with opponents calling the act dehumanizing and barbaric.
“DEGRADING” PRACTICE OR PREVENTION OF “MORAL DECAY”?
Since its ruling final month, varied teams have urged the state authorities to rethink the follow and evaluate the legal guidelines to make sure they’re proportionate, rehabilitative and respectful of human dignity.
“We reiterate our agency stance towards all types of corporal punishment, together with flogging or caning, as they’re inherently merciless, inhuman and degrading,” Malaysian Bar Association president Mohammad Ezri Abdul Wahab mentioned in a press release Thursday ( December 26).
“Malaysia aspires to be a nation revered for its adherence to human rights requirements, however permitting public flogging contravenes worldwide human rights ideas,” the assertion learn.
Women’s rights group Sisters in Islam (SIS) had earlier referred to as on non secular authorities in Terengganu to cease the “dehumanizing” and “barbaric act”.
“The punishment serves no significant goal in justice or ethical reform,” the group mentioned in a press release on Nov. 22, questioning the knowledge of carrying it out in a mosque.
SIS additionally criticized the justification of public flogging as a type of “schooling” and mentioned it stands in stark distinction to “Islam’s elementary ideas of justice, compassion, mercy and the preservation of human dignity.”
On Sunday (December 22), a gaggle referred to as G25, made up of distinguished retired public officers, mentioned the punishment was a violation of each federal and Syrian legal guidelines and referred to as on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to intervene within the matter.
The identical sentiment was echoed by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), which argued that the Terengganu Syariah High Court had exceeded its jurisdiction conferred by federal regulation by means of the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act of 1965 (regulation 355).
According to Suhakam, Law 355 solely permits caning, not public caning.
“It additionally makes us query whether or not actual justice has been served on this case, particularly when the 5 kids of the perpetrator could also be emotionally broken by the general public spectacle of their father’s punishment,” the G25 added in its assertion, as quoted by Free Malaysia Today.
