Shariah Court Overstepped Jurisdiction By Imposing Public Whipping Says Suhakam

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Suhakam said public whipping is an affront to human dignity.
PETALING JAYA: The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has accused the Terengganu shariah court of overstepping its jurisdiction by ordering the public whipping later this month of a man convicted of khalwat.
Suhakam said while the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, or Act 355, permitted whipping, it did not sanction the punishment being carried out in public.
“Directing whipping before the public renders the punishment in excess of or ultra vires Act 355 as well as to be in violation of the jurisdictional limitation,” it said in a statement.
In November, it was reported that a widower was set to become the first person to be publicly whipped in Terengganu for khalwat after he pleaded guilty to a repeated offence of being in close proximity with a woman who is not his wife.
Affendi Awang, 42, was ordered to be given six strokes of the rotan by Terengganu shariah high court judge Kamalruazmi Ismail.
Initially fixed for Dec 6, the public whipping has been postponed to Dec 27.
The shariah court’s decision however drew criticism from the likes of rights group Sisters in Islam, saying it violated the sanctity of a mosque and called the public whipping a degrading spectacle.
Similarly, Suhakam said, public whipping is an affront to human dignity and violates a basic principle enshrined in both international law and the Federal Constitution.
Punishments that inflict physical violence and cause public humiliation have no place in a modern justice system, it said.
“They undermine Malaysia’s commitments to human rights, tarnish its legal integrity and erode the dignity of individuals, a value upheld by all religions, including Islam.”
Suhakam called on the  authorities to reconsider the implementation of public caning and instead to respect and uphold the Federal Constitution, federal laws and human rights. - FMT

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