Whipping under hudud can be done in public, Kelantan deputy MB says

(Malay Mail Online) – Kelantan may carry out whipping sentences in public if hudud is implemented in the state, Kelantan deputy mentri besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah has said.

Amar also told Umno-linked daily Utusan Malaysia in an interview that Kelantan has all the infrastructure necessary for the implementation of the Islamic penal code, such as methods on whipping and amputation, as well as the officials to carry out the punishments after a previous workshop that the PAS state government conducted with medical experts and the police.

“Whipping is already there; it’s just that it’s currently limited to six strokes,” Amar was quoted saying in the interview published today.

“We want to impose up to 40 and 100 strokes. The location (of the whipping) is currently set in prison. But if we want to do it publicly, we can do that too; it’s up to the court to decide,” he added.

Amar also acknowledged that if PAS does not seek to amend the Federal Constitution, but only seeks to amend Act 355, or the Shariah Court’s (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, Kelantan can only legislate under Shariah law against alcohol consumption, extramarital sex that can be punished with 100 strokes of whipping, and false accusation of adultery.

“But the punishments of stoning, amputating hands for theft, amputating hands and feet for robbery, and the death sentence for apostates will not be able to be imposed,” said Amar.

Kelantan’s Shariah Criminal Code II Enactment 1993 (Amendment 2015) legislates against those three offences, as well as apostasy, theft and robbery. Theft and robbery are already offences under the civil Penal Code.

PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang is expected to table private member’s Bills in the Parliament session this month to remove the legal obstacles that prevent the enforcement of hudud in Kelantan, after they were deferred from debate in the last parliamentary sitting.