A blow to humanity: Torture by judicial caning in Malaysia

Amnesty International, 2010, 56 Seiten

Malaysia openly practises widespread torture and other ill-treatment by subjecting thousands of refugees, migrants and malaysian citizens to judicial caning each year.

Amnesty international estimates that as many as 10,000 people a year are caned in malaysian prisons, including many foreigners from indonesia and myanmar. In prisons that cane up to 60 people a day, specially trained officers tear into victims’ bodies with a metre-long cane travelling at up 160km per hour. on impact, the cane rips the naked skin, pulps the fatty tissue below, and damages muscle tissue. Victims said this punishment caused severe pain and suffering, and left long-term physical as well as psychological damage.

In recent years malaysian legislators have increased the number of offences punishable by caning to more than 60, including even fraud and immigration violations. This form of corporal punishment, originally imposed under british colonial rule in the 19th century, has nothing to do with islamic law. Under international law, judicial corporal punishment such as caning constitutes torture or other ill-treatment, which are absolutely prohibited in all circumstances.

Malaysian officials, including state-employed doctors, who are complicit in torture through caning are subject to prosecution worldwide. As a member of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN), Malaysia should consider the regional consequences of caning migrants and refugees. To comply with international law, the Malaysian government must abolish judicial caning altogether.