The Maldives is a tourist paradise, crowned the World’s Most Romantic Destination during the World Travel Awards in 2011. But while a popular destination for couples around the globe, it takes a radical paradigm shift when it comes to its own citizens.
Under the 2008 Constitution the Maldives is a ‘100 percent’ Muslim country, with a justice system based on a hybrid of common law and Islamic Sharia.
Although the country does not implement many of the ‘Hadd’ or penalties prescribed by Sharia law, including amputation and stoning, it does practice some selective punishments.
One such penalty is the implementation of flogging for a number of crimes including, but not limited to, fornication outside of wedlock.
In recent days, global media attention has been drawn to the case of a 15 year old-girl convicted of fornication and sentenced to flogging, despite her history of alleged sexual abuse dating back to 2009.
Minivan News has spoken with a number of locals about their experiences with flogging, and the societal impact it has had in the past.
Faheem*, a 47 year old former court official in a small island in the North of the Maldives, shared his experiences in regard to related cases.
“In my 10 years serving as a court official during the 90’s, I have witnessed many people being subjected to public flogging. Although we are, in fact, a Muslim nation, most of these sentences were for cases of extra marital sex,” Faheem said.
“The majority of those who did get flogged were women. Although Islam specifically states that once a culprit has endured the ‘Hadd’ he or she is completely washed of their sins, society does not seem to see it in that way.
These women are tainted for life and forever looked down upon. There were a couple of men too, but the islanders did not react in the same way against the men. They seem to be more easily accepted back into society, their sins are generally forgiven or forgotten in time,” he explained.
“We usually used a paddle, and there were then, like now, specific regulations which the flogger had to adhere to. But there is one particular case that has stayed in my mind, and although I was not directly involved in it, I have always remembered it with a pang of guilt,” he continued.
“The magistrate at the time, Ghazee Zubair, was involved with a woman from our island. Then one day he had to preside over a case against this woman, who had been brought in front of him for charges of extramarital, consensual sex with yet another man,” Faheem said.
“I remember islanders talking about whether he would be impartial in his judgement. He was, to a point. Yes, she was sentenced to flogging. But, the appalling thing is that while all others got the paddle, she was given a hundred lashes with a cotton handkerchief,” Faheem said.
While the paddle is commonly used in the implementation of flogging, it has been replaced with less harsher tools in some cases.
Hussain Haleem, a former court official, said in the past there have been instances where objects such as peacock feathers have been imported for the sole purpose of flogging a woman belonging to the country’s elite, or a single lash with a string of 100 rosary beads, each bead counting as a separate lash. Haleem, however, added that there had been cases in the other extreme, where the flogger has used far more force than is required, causing serious physical harm to the person sentenced.
Court officials attempt to gather a crowd of onlookers when the sentence is being implemented, in a bid to increase the shame of the sentenced persons. People standing around the court building, or waiting to file documents or cases, are frequently asked to join the crowds.
Shame and humiliation
Ibrahim*, a 44 year-old civil servant, talked about growing up as the illegitimate child of a woman who had been flogged.
“It was hard. Mother, who has since passed away, did not come from as elite a family as the man who they say is my father. She was the youngest daughter of a carpenter, a woman with no education, no money and no social status,” he said.
“As a teenage girl, she worked as a maid to help support the family. It was at this house where she worked that I was conceived. Of course, the man involved was rich and well, untouchable, even by the justice system.He denied any involvement and got off scott-free.
“I don’t refer to him as my father. I have never exchanged a word with him. My mother, however, was lashed. She told me that she herself had confessed, saying as per Islam, she deserved to get shamed, to bebeaten for her sin. Her family was so ashamed of her that she was turned out of the house.
“She lived till her late fifties alone, except for me. Growing up with a woman labelled undeservingly as cheap and honourless was not easy. This place is small and everyone calls me a bastard behind my back. That is probably why I have never learned to smile much,” Ibrahim said.
Twenty-six year-old marketing professional Fathima* spoke about how she felt forced to marry a man she was unhappy being with, to avoid the “societal ostracism” of being flogged.
“I was 22 at the time. Hassan, my boyfriend, was 30. We had been in a relationship for about six months and it wasn’t really working out. Hassan was too possessive for comfort, and I was looking for a way out of the relationship. And then, in the middle of all this, I became pregnant,” Fathima said.
“There was no one I could go to with the problem. My parents would have been outraged and I did not, rather I do not, have the courage to take the chance of being found out and flogged; of being banished to some island and losing everything, from my family’s acceptance of me to my reputation and this job I love. So, although things were already sour, Hassan and I got married in a rush,” she continued.
Fathima gave birth to a baby girl less than seven months into the marriage. She said the couple had the baby abroad for fear of being found out if they had stayed in the Maldives for the delivery. After a difficult and emotionally abusive marriage, Fathima filed for divorce a year after the wedding. She does not get any support for the child from the father, and is currently working as a single mother.
“I sometimes wonder if, compared to the hardships I am facing now, it was worth it to spend all my savings on the wedding and the trip abroad for delivery of my child. Hassan was of no help except for the name he lent to my child. I ask myself if it wouldn’t have been better to have just faced the shame of flogging back then.
“Who am I kidding? I don’t think anyone deserves such degrading treatment. Let’s be real. It’s something that the authorities ignore until an official complaint is made or someone ends up getting pregnant, but there is hardly anyone in this country who does not have sexual relations prior to, or outside of, marriage. It’s the hypocrisy I hate worst of all,” she said.
Punishment or repentance?
Usthaz Abdul Mueed Hassan, a graduate of Qatar’s Mauhadini Sanawi and Azhar University, said that in its true spirit, Islam holds repentance and forgiveness in higher regard than the implementation of Hadd penalties.
Mueed, who holds a state-issued permit to lecture on religious issues, spoke to Minivan News about the implementation of Hadd, while also commenting on the case of the 15 year-old rape victim sentenced to flogging.
“There is a verse in the Quran which comes in light of an incident in Quraish. The people of Quraish used to sell or give out their young females to guests they held in high regard, against the wishes of these youth. The verse was in response to questions that arose as to whether these youth would be considered sinners,” Mueed explained.
He referred to the conclusion of Verse 33 of Noor Surah in the Quran which reads: “But force not your maids to prostitution when they desire chastity in order that ye may make a gain in the goods of this life. But if anyone compels them yet after such compulsion is Allah Oft-forgiving Most Merciful [to them].”
“In circumstances where a woman is forced into sexual relations, like in the instance of rape, Hadd will not apply to them. As in the verse I’ve quoted, Allah himself has forgiven them. None is above Allah. And since He has granted forgiveness, there is no more for us to do. It is very clearly stated so,” Mueed said.
“Anyone who reads these verses in the correct way and in their right order can clearly make out under what circumstances a punishment should and should not be given,” he said.
“Islam does not permit any Hadd to be delivered if there is any ‘Shubha’ [doubt] about the offence having been committed,” Mueed said, referring to sayings of Prophet Muhammad, as cited in the book Fiqh Al-Sunnah, Part II.
“The Prophet has also said that when seeking to implement Hadd on a person, if there is detected even the slightest reason to let it go without implementing the Hadd, then do so. He then says that this is because it is far better for the person in charge – be it a judge, a president or an Imam – to err in forgiving a person than to err in sentencing a person to any Hadd,” Mueed said.
“So even in the current case of the 15 year-old, if there is the slightest doubt – say for example, the girl is not fully mature and aware, or she is not explicitly aware that fornication is ‘haram’ (prohibited) – then it is better to not implement the sentence,” Mueed stated.
Mueed said that in Islam, proving offences like Zinah (fornication out of wedlock) beyond doubt is deliberately made to be difficult to achieve. Even if a person confesses to a crime, if he or she later denies it, then the Hadd cannot be observed, he said.
“For example, for this Hadd, there has to be four male witnesses with perfect eyesight who have seen the act occur at the same time, in the same manner. Four eyewitnesses being there is in itself unlikely, unless it is in a highly corrupted society and such acts are committed outside in public places. Furthermore, if three of them provide witness and the fourth ends up differing, then these three witnesses will be sentenced for ‘gazf’ (false accusation against a chaste and virtuous person of having committed fornication),” he continued.
“What is the reason for this to be made so complicated in Islam? It is to discourage implementation,” Mueed stated. “One must not take the literal, word by word, meaning of the Quran and Prophet’s sayings. We must interpret its words in the light of the true spirit of the religion and with reference to history.”
“For Hadd of Zinah to be sentenced upon a person, there are four requirements that must be met: the person must be of sound mind, must have reached puberty, must have committed fornication willingly without any compulsion and must know that the act of fornication is ‘haram’ in Islam,” he explained.
The religion-based political party Adhaalath Party, members of which largely dominate the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, has meanwhile stated that “No one has the right to criticise any penalties specified in Islam,” and that “criticising issues like this would encourage enemies of Islam, create confusion among the general public and open up opportunities for people who aim to stop the practice of similar penalties commanded in Islam.”
In a statement released in February, the party said “The purpose of penalties like these in Islamic Sharia is to maintain order in society and to save it from sinful acts. It is not at all an act of violence. We must turn a deaf ear to the international organisations which are calling to abolish these penalties, labeling them degrading and inhumane acts or torture.”
Corporal punishment is cruel, degrading, unacceptable: UN
Human Rights Advisor at the UN Country Office Safir Syed expressed concern over the implementation of flogging, especially in the case of minors, in the Maldives.
“It is unacceptable and against international standards. It is also important to keep in mind, apart from the physical trauma, the psychological effects the punishment may cause,” Syed said.
Stating that corporal punishment, including flogging, are explicitly prohibited under international law, Syed backed his statement citing from numerous UN standards and human rights mechanisms.
“While Article 7 of the ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) states that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child add that ‘State Parties should ensure that no child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below 18 years of age,'” Syed quoted.
Syed noted that in July 2012 the UN Human Rights Committee had called on the Maldivian state to “abolish flogging and explicitly prohibit corporal punishment in all institutional settings.”
Similarly, in 2007 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child had expressed concern that corporal punishment is considered lawful as a sentence for crime and for disciplinary purposes, and called on the state to abolish the use of corporal punishment under such circumstances.
Syed also referred to the 2005 report of the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, on the legality of corporal punishment under international law.
“The Special Rapporteur stated that any form of corporal punishment, be it flogging, amputation, etc, is contrary to the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The Rapporteur also said that States cannot hide behind domestic laws as justification for this violation of human rights obligations,” Syed said.
Meanwhile, an online petition by Avaaz.org calling on the Maldivian government to end the practice of flogging women and children for the crime of fornication has been signed by over a million people worldwide.
*Names changed at request
(0)Dislikes
(0)Related Posts
Political bias limiting right to information: panel- UN Special Representative calls for abolition of degrading and capital punishment against children
- State Minister for Home Affairs slams President Waheed over govt’s criticism of flogging sentence
- Hearing cancelled for 15 year-old girl facing fornication charges
- Maldives legal system “inaccessible” to migrant workers: Transparency Maldives
- Jameel and Dunya to defend Maldives’ human rights record at UNHRC
Really Mariyath?? Ask Jangiya Nazim, Rekko Moosa and Jabir what is abuse and rights of women! You write these stuff for money?
Minivan news is a threat to islam and maldives. We need to take action against this website urgently.
I call for the deportation of the openly anti-islam foreigners running this website. They only seek the destruction of maldives.
We will be using all these anti-islam and anti-maldives writings by this MDP affiliated minivan news website in the campaign against MDP in the upcoming elections. Lets see how the general public react to it.
I believe the islamophobes behind this website can be successfully prosecuted in maldives. They have broken many laws and regulation, the religious unity act being one of them. We will not rest untill these anti-islam foreigners are deported/ made to flee from this country.
These people are deliberately aiming to drive maldives into starvation by ruining the tourism industry of the country. They are the people who sent the story of flogging to various newspapers abroad and started the petition.
We not stop in our effort to drive these people out. We will succeed, insha allah!
jounalism is one thing. But setting political scores at the expense of country's reputation is another. Minivan has crossed the red line with these islamophobic articles.
This is part of the fetish-bondage culture of the middle east, that we have inherited. The drooling men savouring a young girl (or a boy as the case may be) bend backwards and whipped until they give in / or agree to their hedonous pleasures.
Sickening!
Most certainly these men who take much pride in executing these sentences will NEVER give away their god-given-'right' to do that.
Looking at the wider picture, it Shariah gets enforced,
a) More than half the Parliamentarians would be stoned to death. For adultery, sodomy, fornication, abortion, drug abuse and trafficking, swindling.
b) Almost 100% of youth, would be flogged, for sex.
c) About a quarter hands chopped for robbing, theft.
But no. Here is the catch. It is a pick and chose system where everything gets done for money and corruption.
The snake crawling underneath is a venomous cobra, with ribs flared saying 'Muslims'.
A noble minded person would turn his or her head away when a sister or brother is being pained and shamed in public for having been what basically boils down to being less lucky than the onlookers who got away with their sins... As putrid as the system are the crowds who form every time the utter humiliation of a public flogging is being implemented in front of the justice building. As a start let us and our children turn our heads and walk away from such primitive and inhumane activity!
I'm an anti-Islam foreigner. In fact I'm an anti-theist foreigner, I treat all religions with similar contempt. Does this mean I am no longer welcome in The Maldives? I've made quite a few Maldivian friends during the 13 years I've been visiting - would the commenters above care to ask those friends whether I am a bad person simply because I don't subscribe to a certain brand of superstition?
The biggest threat to The Maldives is those trying to return to the dark ages and adhering to the barbaric practices of bronze aged goat herders. The world is evolving and that evolution, with its advances in science, education and understanding, has brought about the prosperity and the technology that has brought foreigners to your shores along with the affluence that allows everyone to have two smartphones with access to the internet and the knowledge of the fundamentals of human rights. For instance, it galls me that Maldivians are forbidden by their religious leaders and their politicians to take alcohol, whilst the same leaders happily bank the foreigners' money that flows from the resorts where the evil booze is hypocritically served.
I wonder how the people in power, getting rich off the backs of foreigners and a subservient workforce, would feel about dropping the veneer of tolerance to western ideals and culture and making The Maldives ENTIRELY Islamic. No alcohol for anyone. No bikinis worn on ANY beaches by ANYONE. No non-married holidaymakers sharing bedrooms, with public floggings for western women who break these stupid laws. Then lets see how long it is before your airport becomes the biggest white elephant on the planet!
@ Kevin Armes
Let me say it with William Shakespeare: "Well roar'd Lion."
Haha! Would you look at that? The inbred neanderthals are trying to suppress the freedom of speech, because they are ashamed of the harsher realities of the arab pagan way of life, otherwise known as islam. Are you going to cry and pound the desk like a child because somebody had the guts to say the truth? Islamophobia? Hah! It's not a phobia when these neanderthals are actually out to kill, steal, rape and conquer the world, to try and make everyone submit to their disgusting religion. This article has proven it as well. Usthaz Mueed has made clear, how barbaric this religion is. And the stories of the victims are an indication of how flawed this 'shariah' system is. It's beyond words how the neanderthals are trying to establish this system in the entire world, in the 21st century.
Luckily for us, this 'religion' will be gone by the turn of the century, and the muslim world can finally embrace reality and not delusion.
Well written and presented
@National Movement i call upon you to start using your brain. And if you so hate this negetive publicity why don't you lobby the government to stop flogging abused minors and women mostly. Those who are bringing shame on Islam is not this website or anyone who voices concern on such an injustice, but those who go about doing such injustices as flogging this child in the name of religion.
Usthaz Abdul Mueed Hassan has given you a reading into how these penalties can be carried out in religion and he does seem to be able to reflect and use common sense along with what is prescribed in religion instead of going around shouting chop chop, or flog flog like our radical gangs in Adhaalath.
To all the commenters. Nobody in this article is saying anything against Islam. And nobody is denying that flogging should be given as punishment in cases of extramarital affairs. All this article is saying is that for flogging sentence to be given, there needs to be certain criteria fulfilled and that in this particular case, there might have been discrepancies and doubts about whether that is the case.
Discussing the sentence does not equate anti-Islam sentiments. By saying that there is no space for discussion in Islam, you turn your backs on one of the most beautiful facets of Islam: the idea of consensus and discussion.
What's all this about anti Islam bullshit. It's more political than any of the excuses to keep these primitive practices continuing. This is sick and quiet basic. Just think about it if it was your own child. The whole perspective to this fetish practice is extremely hard to digest. It's a 15 year old teenage girl for gods sake. Just let her go and make sacrifices to selfish adgendas. Siko's
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions for The Maldives.
I'll NEVER visit a country which implements Sharia, a sexist, bigoted piece of man-made claptrap that is of no use in the modern world.
Its sad that despite the real life testimonies and informed arguments presented in the article, many has resorted to cheap tactics such as attacking the messenger and branding it. The many senseless comments have proven the inability of parochial minds to understand the complexity of the issue at hand and empathize with those who have become victims of a highly selective system. At the end of the day, I doubt if one can claim to be a good human being let alone a good Muslim if one cannot empathize with the weak and vulnerable. Also, the comment threatening to use such honest articles on Minivan to campaign against MDP, proves the hypocrisy of it all. Its not religion that you are trying to protect. Its your own self interests. Disgusting!
@Mariyam In the article they don't speak directly against flogging. But it is obvious the maker is against the practice. And that makes the author belonging to people who are able to think clearly. There are 1000 different ways of punishing, so why pick something sadistic? People who apply and like these punishments are the real criminals.
Mueed speaks wise words: “One must not take the literal, word by word, meaning of the Quran and Prophet’s sayings. We must interpret its words in the light of the true spirit of the religion and with reference to history.”
Interpretation is inevitable. It's very convenient for someone to make a law, which includes the rule "it's against the law to change the law". By enforcing that law strictly, it can never be changed. Rational thinkers will always conclude text changes over time, especially over a millennium of time. You have to interpret the words, with wisdom, clear thinking and necessary adaptations to fit in the recent time. Adaptation means survival. Without adaptation Islam as a world religion is in it's last century.
Deport this reporter! Flog her upside down! Off with her head!
Just kidding. Marvelous article!
Flogging and other medieval punishments meted out by uneducated mullahs such as the ones infesting our courts have no place in the 21st century. It doesn't exactly take a team of scientists to figure out how appalling it is to flog a 15 year old rape victim.
Sharia is - or at least needs to be - about Justice. There is no justice in punishing a kid who has already undergone an abusive childhood most of us would luckily never experience.
Justice in this case would have been to rehabilitate her - and to provide her with the caring and love and protection she has never received. Instead, the idiots in our courts - using Sharia as a pretext - chose to further humiliate her.
There is a concerted attempt by certain dark forces - most significantly among them medieval minded Adhaalath party and certain Salafist NGOs - to have a harsh, literalistic and entirely unintelligent reading of the Qur'an and scriptures imposed on the Muslims.
These attempts to intimidate women, terrorize a small populations and crush any opposition by abusing religion is a tactic that is becoming increasingly transparent.
World over, newly empowered Muslims are rejecting these narrow, literalist, brainless dogma called Wahhabism in favour of traditional Islam of learning and prosperity.
The day Saudi oil runs out, Wahhabism will disappear from the face of the Earth. Until then, sadly, we have to suffer these idiots.
P.S.
You know the writer has hit a nerve when there is an outpouring of comments that fail to counter any point in the article, yet goes on to heap abuse the messenger.
No further evidence required of a job well done.
Hoping to see a lot more articles of this quality on Minivan News!
Is flogging good for having sex unmarried? Obviously it is uncivilized and barbaric it is much better to force such a couple to marry than bringing them to public and beat them up. For me it is weirdo thing don’t I have the right to voice against this.
Cutting hand for robbing isn’t too harsh when you can replace the stolen thing but you can’t replace the severed hand seems very sadist and selfish act. Isn’t better and wise to ask the thief to return what he has stolen than chopping off his hands? My brain cannot accept this as a divine order so can’t I simply reject this and voice against such barbarism?
For me the whole social justice in the Sharia is so stupid even a person like me can do better than that. I cannot accept the sharia is divinely inspired. When people so blatantly want to implement such a thing in the name of god, I think we have the rights to voice against it, people who think it is divine thing they have to prove it to people like us instead of venting anger. Why can’t people debate on this? Why do you think it is divine when the evidence against it is much stronger.
Ok Maldives like Afghanistan, Pak, Bang, Saudi etc..is going to hell ..may all the minorities save there life and escape before they r converted like the rest of the lot..
@ Culture Of Flogging / Human Rights.
Interesting to read this article and the full Gamut of comments.
From the point of view of a Muslim I cannot help but appreciate the fact that HUMAN RIGHTS that human beings truly deserve cannot be given by human beings themselves - Simply because no human being can truly COMPLETELY free himself of bias.
So who could give human beings their rights?
For a Muslim the answer is clear. Its the Creator who created human beings.
The next question is Did the creator indeed set out these human rights? Once again the believing Muslim would assert that indeed the Creator has communicated His will with regards to human rights & everything else by Sending the final Prophet with HIS Words recorded in the Koran.
Thus for most Muslims no representative of a hypocritical organisation such as the UN or any OTHER Organisation of human beings could replace the will of their Creator.
The challenge for Muslims is to determine what the will of their Creator is and encourage each other to reflect that WILL in their everyday lives. That is no easy task and we need the best brains and erudition in our midst to undertake that work.
Isn’t it precisely this failure of the Muslims to address this very challenge that is the root cause of our stagnation and our hypocrisy?
Allah indeed Knows Best!
@National Movement, Ainth and human being,
What specific language in this article makes you conclude that it is 'anti-islam', 'anti-Maldives' or 'islamophobic'?
Stating a conclusion that follows from unstated premises isn't the most persuasive argument in the world.
If standing up to the rights of the oppressed makes me islamophobic, then I gladly embrace that title.
May those National Movement, and their keyboard warriors be cut off from tourist money and be forced to eat sand and salt water. We shall not share even a grain of rice to those who call for the legalization of rape in Islamic law.
I particularly found comments from Mueed’s contextualisation of Hadd penalties to be helpful and interesting – particularly the notion of doubt built into Hadd. Also, the first-hand accounts were insightful into how the law practically takes shape. It seems as though there is a gross inequality in its application.
A side issue on logic and argument: In many blog comments on Minivan I’ve noticed a tendency by some people on both sides of the political spectrum to attack the person or group rather than to engage in the argument at hand. This distracts the readers thinking and reflection on the issue at hand. In logic and critical thought this is sometimes referred to as an ‘ad hominien’ fallacy.
In many sports (for instance football), a coach will instruct his/her players to ‘play the ball and not the man’. Similarly, I would encourage all to play the argument rather than making personal attacks on one’s character, etc. This seems to be more a tactic of rhetoric rather than intelligent debate (sorry to be pedantic but I think this is important for debate).
Human rights and responsibilities: The question of the basis for human rights (as raised by ‘Joke’) is very interesting. Are they based in Kantian notions that humans being have intrinsic value and should not be treated as means to some other end? In the dignity of humans as expressed through the Quran? Or some other basis?
In practical application of human rights though I’m not sure that we need to categorically state the specific source of such rights. I would emphasise the commonality between various justifications. More importantly, I would emphasise the responsibility that other citizens, institutions and political organisations have to uphold in order for those basic rights to be achieved. I think that this responsibility could be based both in the teaching of the Quran or in other areas such as reasoning - depending on the beliefs of the person.
I think I see your point that if rights are based in human societies then they are at whims to changes in people sentiment. As opposed to being based in a deity that could place greater claims on absolutes and universals. I think I would try to reply by making the claim that human understandings of concepts such as justice and fairness are present throughout history and civilisations (weather that be because of a Creator seems to be a theological question).
Above all, I think it is important to recognise that when people evoke the language of human rights (such as in the case of the flogging) they are making a claim to be heard by their fellow citizens – that an injustice has occurs. That other avenues are not working.
Thank you for this. Good article. And great that u brought in the views of different people.
And to all the ppl who are throwing a cow... get effing real... And go flog or selves for the sex u have had... Hypocrites!!
Dear Minivannews,
Could you please let the readers know who the owner and editor of this website? There is wide-spread belief that this site is registered under Anni's brother's name.
Really enlightened me, thankyou for all the information.
Fahari was never flogged says ..... Imranullah bin Iththihad
great article. keep 'em coming.
Great article and it is great to see this kind of thing getting some attention finally.
No one should be flogged for what they do with their own body. Extramarital or not. Barbarians! The lot of them who endorse this.
Flogging is one of the most subtle methods of Hadd in islamic sharia that the extremist islamic societies are relentless on executing. this is one punishment (if executed correctly) without prolonged physical pain afterwards unlike the stoning and amputation methods.
It is absolute progress in journalism as taboo topics are raised up to curiosity like this. no one is condemning anyone or any belief. we are using logic and research to analyze how an ancient tradition sits with the modern human rights.Islam is all about redemption,forgiveness and understanding...:)
good one, Mariyath.