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SHARIAH HIGH COURT IN MALAYSIA SENTENCES TWO WOMEN TO LASHING OVER USE OF DILDO

Two women aged 32 and 22 years, in the North Eastern state of Terengganu, have pleaded guilty to having sex in a car with a dildo according to the local news outlet, Sinar Harian. Despite the fact that the two women were released on bail, they were both given a fine of RM 3,300- an equivalent of £630 and sentenced to 6 lashings each by the Shariah High Court.

The punishment which was slated for Monday 27 August was postponed to September 3rd, delaying the caning because of "technical reasons" that are yet to be resolved according to the court registrar Nurulhuda Abd Rahman reported the English- language publication, The Star.

Human Rights Defender organizations and LGBT activists have condoned this sentence and the Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Malaysian authorities to ban such inhumane punishments while Justice For Sisters (JFS), a Malaysian LGBT rights group called the punishment a "gross violation of women's dignity and human rights".

The New Straits Times also reported that the Malaysian Islamic Party's information chief, Nasrudin Hassan advocated for the government to take "stern action" against the LGBT people instead of catering to their requests. In early August, the Malaysian police raided a gay bar in Kuala Lumpur under the pretext to "mitigate the LGBT culture from spreading into our society" hence the LGBT community is stigmatized in the socially conservative country. Gay sex is banned in Malaysia among the list of offences "against the order of nature" together with bestiality