150 Maldivian Women Sentenced to Public Flogging

The Muslim conservative court of the Republic of Maldives sentenced nearly 150 women to public flogging for having extra-marital relationships. Earlier this month an eighteen-year-old Maldivian woman fainted after being publicly flogged 100 times after being convicted of having sex with two men, reported The Independent.

Fifty men were also sentenced to flogging due to multiple sexual relationships. Women are disproportionately sentenced to flogging in the Maldives. According to Amnesty International, 146 of 184 sentenced to flogging in the Maldives in 2006 were women.

Abbas Faiz of Amnesty International told Women on the Web that flogging is "a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, which is banned by international human rights law. The practice is humiliating and leads to psychological as well as physical scars for those subjected to it. The severity of the pain and suffering often means that whipping is in fact a form of torture."

Media Resources: Women on the Web 7/23/09; The Independent 7/22/09

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