Three women have been caned under Islamic law for committing adultery. This was the country's first ever case involving flogging of women.Two of the women were whipped six times while the third received four strokes of the rotan (cane).one woman was released from prison on Sunday, another will be freed in the next few days while the third will go free in June.
The Controversy.
The women, and four men, were caned following a decision in the religious courts in December. His comments are being seen as a signal that the authorities could be preparing to cane another Muslim woman, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, who was arrested last year for drinking beer and sentenced to six strokes of the cane. Kartika's case, which was to have been the first time a woman was caned under Islamic law in Malaysia, is under review following widespread publicity and international criticism.
The case, when first reported, raised concerns that the nation's secular status is under threat, eroding the rights of some 40-45 per cent of the country's ethnic minorities. Kartika's case had flagged concerns about how women should be flogged and that the recent canings demonstrated that the prisons department can carry out punishments in accordance with Islamic law.
Under the sharia, the women have to be whipped in a seated position by a female prison guard and be fully clothed.
