Perak mufti: Caning of lesbians not cruel

(MMO) – Perak Mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria insisted Terengganu’s public caning of two alleged lesbians was not “cruel”, after Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad disagreed with the sentence today.

He said they could have been subjected to harsher sentences such as up to 100 strokes of the cane and even given the death penalty.

“That is cruel,” he told a press conference after closing an Islamic forum at the Ipoh Town Hall here today.

He also stressed that the caning was to reform rather than physically punish the women.

Harussani added that it was a religious matter rather than political.

This morning, the PM said the public caning at the Terengganu Shariah court hurt public perception of Islam.

He added that there were more compassionate ways to deal with the offence.

The two young Muslim women who were found guilty of attempted lesbian sex and dealt six lashes of the rotan each as 100 people watched at the Terengganu Shariah Court.