A 42-year-old father of five faces a public caning at a mosque in Malaysia after being convicted of the Islamic crime of khalwat, or close proximity between unmarried couples, for the third time, a state official and media reports said.
A sharia court judge in the conservative northeastern state of Terengganu on Wednesday sentenced the man, a construction worker, to six strokes of the cane and a fine after he pleaded guilty to the offence, state news agency Bernama reported.
Terengganu state executive councillor Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi said the caning would take place at a mosque on December 6 following Friday prayers, if the man did not file an appeal.
“This punishment involves caning, but what makes it unusual this time is the judge’s decision for it to be conducted publicly,” he said in a video posted on Facebook.
“This is a new development in Terengganu. Previously, such sentences were executed in closed settings.”
The man became the first person in the state to be caned for khalwat after he was sentenced in February in a separate case, following amendments to Terengganu’s Islamic laws that took effect this year, according to Bernama.
