WHEN the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay visited the Maldives late last year, she urged that the practice of flogging women for having sex outside marriage - and very rarely punishing men in the same way - should be abolished.

''This practice constitutes one of the most inhumane and degrading forms of violence against women,'' she told local reporters.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay. Credit:Reuters

The response was as vicious as it was unexpected.

The next day protestors rallied outside the UN building, carrying placards that read ''Ban UN'', ''Islam is not a toy'' and threatened to ''Flog Pillay''. A website promised to ''slaughter anyone against Islam''.