The whipping started at 10am and ended approximately 20 minutes later. — Bernama pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 — The two women found guilty for attempting to have lesbian sex were caned six times in public at the Terengganu Syariah Court today, as around 100 people watched the punishment.

Two caning officers, one from Kajang Women’s Prison and another from the Pengkalan Chepa Women’s Prison were deployed to court, but the whipping was carried out by the former.

They two were caned individually, in front of the judge.

The whipping started at 10am and ended approximately 20 minutes later, Muslim Lawyers Association deputy president Abdul Rahim Sinwan said when contacted.

Abdul Rahim along with four others from the association held a watching brief over the case today.

He said that the two women were also given private access in and out of court to protect their identities, in what he said was deemed necessary under Islam.

“Humiliation is out of the question, to hurt the person is out of the question. They were brought through different doors, they were taken out through different doors, as the purpose is not to humiliate the person,” he told Malay Mail.

“Now, basically when you talk about caning in Shariah courts, the fallacy among people outside is that the caning is meant to hurt the person. That’s the fallacy.

“In Shariah caning, it is not meant to hurt the person. It is to educate the person. Therefore it’s not painful, it’s not harsh. It’s not meant to hurt the person” he claimed, insisting that Shariah caning is different to civil ones.

His comrade and fellow Shariah lawyer Marlina Amir Hamzah told Malay Mail that the women were caned in full view of about 100 people in the court, made up of public onlookers, government agency representatives as well as NGO members.

The two women were punished by six strokes of the cane, under Sections 30 and 59(1) of the Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment (Takzir) (Terengganu) 2001, after they pleaded guilty to lesbian sexual relations.

On August 28, Terengganu Syariah High Court registrar Nurulhuda Abd Rahman announced that the sentencing, initially set to take place that day, had been postponed to today, due to technical reasons.

In addition to being caned, the women aged 22 and 32 were also required to pay a fine of RM3,300.