'Stiffer penalties for sex offenders'

'Stiffer penalties for sex offenders'

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Moslems in Malaysia's southern Johore state caught committing adultery or cohabitation will face public caning under a new bill to be tabled later this year, news reports said.

Moslem jurists were finalizing the draft of the proposed law, the chief judge of the Johore State Religious (Syariah) Court, Hasbullah Abdul Razak said yesterday.

However, he would not reveal details of the harsher penalties for Moslems caught committing such offenses.

A local Malay daily, Utusan Malaysia, had reported that those found guilty of committing adultery and cohabitation in Johore would be punished with six strokes of the cane.

These offenders would also be liable to a fine of 3,000 ringgit (US$1,200) and a jail term of three years under the proposed Syariah Criminal Law.