KUALA TERENGGANU, 10 Oct 2018:
“You are already 45 years old and should be mature enough to differentiate between wrong and right,” said syarie judge Kamalruazmi Ismail today at the Terengganu Syariah High Court in his judgement against a widow who pleaded guilty to a prostitution charge here.
Kamalruazmi then ordered the twice divorced woman to be given four strokes of the cane and undergo a six-month rehabilitation at the Baitul Ehsan Women Protection Centre in Sabak Bernam, Selangor, beginning today.
He also ordered the caning sentence to be carried out at the Kajang Women’s Prison in Selangor after the 14-day appeal period was over.
The woman was charged with committing preparatory acts for prostitution at a hotel here at 11.45pm on Sept 19.
The charge, under Section 25 of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Takzir) (Terengganu) Enactment 2001 carries a maximum fine of RM5,000, or imprisonment for up to three years, or six strokes of the cane, upon conviction.
Kamalruazmi also advised the woman not to repeat the offence and take the sentence as a lesson.
Just weeks earlier, on Sept 27, a 30-year-old single mother who pleaded guilty to a charge with offering sexual services to a man was ordered to be given six strokes of the cane and jailed for six months by the Terengganu Syariah High Court.
Syarie judge Rosdi Harun handed down the sentence in accordance with Section 25 of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Takzir) (Terengganu) Enactment 2001, which provides a maximum fine of RM5,000, or imprisonment for up to three years, or six strokes of the cane, upon conviction.
The court also ordered that the woman be whipped at the prison where she is to serve her time after 14 days, if she did not appeal against the sentence.
– Bernama
Outrage
Sisters in Islam (SIS) is outraged at the sentence that has been handed to the 45-year old widow who has pleaded guilty to the charge of preparation for the act of prostitution in Kuala Terengganu yesterday.
The Terengganu Syariah High Court had ordered the woman to undergo a six-month rehabilitation period at the Baitul Ehsan Women’s Protection Centre in Sabak Bernam, Selangor and four strokes of the rotan. Syarie judge Kamalruazmi Ismail, who delivered the judgment had ordered that the caning be carried out at the Kajang Women’s Prison, Selangor.
We are alarmed at how deliberately the caning punishment was instructed by the Syariah High Court in Terengganu for execution in another state completely unrelated to the case. It is also worrying how that Prison Department, which is bound to the Home Ministry and Federal Law, is enabling this act to happen upon women.
We point out also that all the cases that have involved caning sentences in Terengganu since August this year were imposed on women, specifically those from minority groups and in the state of poverty.
SIS is extremely worried that this reflects selective and discriminatory administration of ‘justice,’ whereby women are systematically targeted and regarded as sources of ‘sin.’
This blatantly contradicts Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa’s direction to uphold the concept of rahmatan lil alamin (compassion for all) as strongly prescribed by the Holy Quran.
Furthermore, there is no indication that the men who are involved in these cases are even charged in these khalwat raids.
SIS reiterates our call for an immediate moratorium on all caning sentences as it is clear that caning, in whatever form, is a violation of human rights.
Majidah Hashim
Communications Manager
Sisters in Islam