FAR from being educational, the caning of two women for lesbian sex in Terengganu yesterday was inhuman and degrading, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia said today.

It criticised the choice and mode of punishment which did not befit a “cultured, civilised, moderate, and progressive society”.

“(Such a society) would not resort to fear and humiliation as a legitimate method or tool for education,” Suhakam chairman Razali Ismail said.

“Suhakam does not accept that the choice and mode of punishment were intended to educate.”

Terengganu exco and chairman for shariah implementation, education, and higher education, Satiful Bahri Mamat yesterday said the six lashes of the cane for each of the women did not amount to torture, but were meant as a lesson to others.

He said the two women, aged 22 and 32, who were charged with having sex in a car under Islamic law, had been asked to appeal for a lighter sentence but they did not.

Razali said Suhakam condemned the public caning held in the presence of the media.

“It was intended to humiliate as much as to injure the reputation of the women and their families.

“While Suhakam is aware that the law provides for punishment by caning, the (shariah) court ought to have exercised judicial discretion, in accordance with principles of compassion, mercy, and human dignity in Islam.”

He said Muslim women in Malaysian continue to be “disadvantaged by the chosen interpretation of shariah in Malaysia and cannot progress at par with women of other faiths, even with constitutional guarantees of equality”.

He reiterated Suhakam’s calls for Malaysia to repeal corporal punishment in both civil and shariah laws to be in compliance with global standards.