THE Alor Setar High Court withdrew a caning sentence today for 27 Rohingya refugees who were to receive three strokes of the rotan for illegal entry.

Justice Arik Sanusi allowed a revision application to set aside the whipping sentence imposed by the magistrate court on June 23. 

The all-male group were among 40 asylum seekers who were sentenced to seven months’ jail for arriving in Langkawi by boat without a permit.

Arik also allowed a revision of the seven-month jail sentence of six Rohingya teenagers, all aged 17. 

As they are due to complete serving their sentence on July 27, the court made an additional order that they be released to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees upon their release.

Arik further ruled that the men are refugees in need of international protection from the persecution they face in their country of origin.

In line with the international principle of non-refoulement, they cannot, in light of the current situation in their home state of Rakhine in Myanmar, be returned to where they originate, the judge said.

He said it would be inhumane to whip the 27 men as they are not habitual offenders nor have they committed an act of violence.

The courts in previous cases have established that whipping is not mandatory under Section 6(3) of the Immigration Act 1959/63, said the refugees’ lawyer Collin Arvind Andrew.

“The courts are instead vested with the discretion to impose whipping where previous decisions have stated that it is only reserved in cases where there are acts of violence, they are habitual offenders or have threatened public order.

“Today’s decision is laudable as it demonstrates the promotion and protection of human rights by the High Court.” – July 22, 2020.