17 Aug 2018

Malaysian Women Sentenced to Caning for Same-Sex Relations

The judge said that the punishment was a 'lesson to society.'

Two women in Malaysia were fined and sentenced to six strokes with a cane by a sharia court after being caught together being intimate in a car, The Independent reported.

The women, who were 32 and 22 years old, were arrested in April and pled guilty, according to Malaysian media sources. Their fine is 3,300 ringgit, or more than US$800 and their caning is scheduled to take place at the end of August. It will not be public, and the women may yet appeal. 

"Adequate punishment must be meted out so that this becomes a lesson and reminder to not just the two of you, but the members of society," said sharia judge Kamalruazmi Ismail, according to The Independent and a Malaysian daily newspaper.

Malaysia's judicial system has both civil and religious courts, and the civil law punishes oral and anal sex—whether they are committed as heterosexual or homosexual acts—with up to 20-year jail sentences and/or caning and fines.

Malaysia