Malaysian minister defends caning of prisoners as gruesome video appears on internet
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Strapped on a wooden frame, a prisoner braces himself for the brutal onslaught.
Within moments of the first blow being struck by the cane-wielding official, the skin on his buttocks breaks and the raw wound begins to open.
Lash after lash after lash follows until his flesh is reduced to a bloody mess. With each blow, the body flinches and there is a cry.
The caning was meted out in a jail in Malaysia, where the authorities insist that it is a legitimate punishment.
However, a video of the flogging has caused an outcry after it was posted on the Internet and seen around the world.
In images condemned by Malaysia's own lawyers, the unidentified male prisoner, thought to be a drug dealer, is shown being struck 20 times on his bare buttocks with a rotan - a bamboo-like cane.
The Bar Council of Malaysia, which represents 8,000 lawyers, has called for such punishment to be abolished and stepped up its campaign after highlighting the video images.
The six-minute clip, entitled Malaysian Caning Judicial Corporal Punishment, was posted on
www.lifeleak.com, an international video-sharing site.
"We are against the death penalty and corporal punishment," said council president Ambiga Sreenevasan.
"It's against all international human rights norms and the various conventions on torture. It's inhumane and degrading."
However, deputy internal security minister Fu Ah Kiow defended the punishment. He said the video clip was recorded at a local prison and is used in drug prevention and other anti-crime campaigns.
He would not reveal details of the prisoner involved. But the man was understood to be a drug dealer who received dozens of lashes, as well as a lengthy prison term.
In the video, he is seen being led away after the beating then shown undergoing a medical examination.
The minister added: "The video is a means to educate the public and to show how hideous caning can be. It is a deterrence for drug traffickers and drug addicts.
"Somehow somebody duplicated it and posted it on the website, but it's not done by our officials. It is for education and training purposes, there's no big deal about it."
Flogging is widely used in Malaysia for various offences including drug crimes, rape and illegal entry into the country.
