Suhakam slams caning sentence on lesbians

The human rights body says laws that impose such punishments must be repealed and the sentence should be reviewed.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), in criticising the sentencing of two girls to caning for attempted lesbian relations, wants the government to repeal all laws that impose such punishments.

It also called for the implementation of the punishment imposed by the Terengganu shariah court to be stayed and reviewed immediately

Suhakam said in a statement signed by chairman Razali Ismail that the decision of the shariah court on Aug 12, 2018, to sentence two women to six strokes of caning each and RM3,300 fine was “humiliating, demeaning and an attempt to publicly embarrass the women and their families.”

The women were charged under the shariah law known as musahaqah — which bans lesbian sex — and sentenced to six strokes of the cane and a fine of RM3,300 each this week after pleading guilty.

Suhakam said caning in any setting violated the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment under international law.

“Suhakam also emphasises that all forms of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are absolutely prohibited by customary international law and international treaties that Malaysia has acceded to, as well as the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) that the government plans to ratify.

“Accordingly, the interpretation of punishment in religion applied historically cannot ignore evolution of society and standards, as well as the inexorable passage of civilisation.”

It rejected “the farcical argument that was embarrassingly” advanced by the Attorney-General’s Chambers during Malaysia’s review by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on Feb 20, 2018, in Geneva that the caning method under the shariah legal system was done as “humanely as possible”.

Suhakam said the mere fact of inflicting physical pain on another human being was an act of violence and cruelty, and the debasement of human dignity.

“Arguments such as the length and diameter of the cane are therefore immaterial and obsolete,” it said