Whipping Cases

Note: There are no instances of specific whipping cases in Iran on this page. This is because whipping/lashing is so common in Iran that it often goes unreported. Women and men are given lashes for a variety of reasons of Iran, including but not limited to drinking alcohol, walking with non-relative member of the opposite sex, not observing the “Islamic” dress code, attending a mixed-sex party, etc.

Unnamed woman (Saudi Arabia)
March 2007

A 20 year old Saudi woman was sentenced to 60 lashes of the whip and 6 months imprisonment at a foster house for girls after running away from her home and appearing in public without a male guardian.
For more information, see

2006

Unnamed woman (“The Girl from Qatif”) (Saudi Arabia)

Crime: Being alone with a man in a car

In 2006, a 19-year old woman, known only a ‘G’, was blackmailed into meeting a man who threatened to tell her family they were having a relationship outside wedlock, which is illegal in Saudi Arabia. She met the man at a shopping mall and, after driving off together, the blackmailer's car was stopped by two other cars bearing men wielding knives and meat cleavers. During the next three hours, the woman was raped 14 times by her seven captors. One of the men took pictures of her naked with his mobile phone and threatened to blackmail her with them if she told anybody.

Five of the rapists were arrested and given jail sentences ranging from 10 months to 5 years.

G was sentenced to 90 lashes of the whip for the ‘crime’ of being alone with a man in a car.

For more information, see http://www.wluml.org/english/newsfulltxt.shtml?cmd[157]=x-157-551897

Layali A. (United Arab Emirates)
Crime: “Adultery”

In 2006, Layali A. was gang raped by 6 men after being kidnapped from a nightclub. She stated that the accused men had posed as police officers and tricked her into their car. They then took her to a house where they proceeded to gang rape her.

At her hearing, the judge ruled that rape had not been committed, and instead charged Layali A. and the men involved with the crime of ‘adultery’.

Layali A. was sentenced to 150 lashes of the whip and 5 years jail time.
The men were also sentenced to 150 lashes of the whip, but only received 3 months jail time.

For more information, see

Shaheen Abdel Rahman and Unnamed woman (United Arab Emirates)
Crime: “Adultery”

In 2006, Shaheen Abdel Rahman, a married man living apart from his wife, was sentenced to death by stoning in Fujeirah for the crime of `adultery`. His co-defendant, an unnamed Filipina woman, was excused from stoning as she was unmarried, but was sentenced to one year jail time and 100 lashes of the whip.

An appeals court commuted Abdel Rahman`s sentence to 1 year jail time followed by deportation to his home country of Bangladesh, while his co-defendant`s sentence was upheld.

For more information, see

Doli Bibi (India)
Crime: Suspected sexual relations

January 2006

Doli Bibi, a mother of three from Gakundi village of Rajdharpara in Behrampore, went on a trip to Rajasthan with her brother. Back home, she had to face a social boycott as the villagers were under the impression that she had an illicit relation with the "so-called brother". Village chieftains held a meeting over "her trip with her paramour" and ostracised her family for three weeks. RSP leader Mr Sasthipada Mondal presided over the meeting while Congress-backed Independent MLA of Hariharpara, Mr Niyamat Sheikh, pronounced the "verdict" of caning. And the BDO, Behrampore, Mr Nimai Chandra Haldar, "congratulated the judge for delivering the exemplary punishment".

For more information, see

2005

Hamed Yaseen Saeed, Mohamad Hasan Yousif, and 2 Unnamed women (United Arab Emirates)
Crime: “Adultery”
April 2005

The Shariah Court in Fujairah sentenced Hamed Yaseen Saeed and Mohamad Hasan Yousif -- both UAE nationals -- to 13 months in jail and flogging of 90 lashes each. In addition, a UAE national woman and an Indian woman, who were caught in an immoral position with the two nationals were sentenced for the same jail term and 90 lashes. The Indian lady would be deported after serving her sentence.

For more information, see

4 Unnamed Women (Indonesia)

Crime: Gambilng

In August 2005, Indonesia caned women for the first time after they were accused of illegal gambling in the staunchly conservative province of Aceh. More than 1,000 people gathered after Friday prayers to watch as four women were struck in the back with rattan canes, each receiving seven blows, Alias Abubakar, an official in the central town of Takengon told private-radio El-Shinta.
For more information, see: Pravda, Moscow, 19 August 2005

2 men and 2 women (Indonesia)
Crime: Drinking and Being Alone Together after dark
August 2005

Two unmarried couples were sentenced to flogging in the province of Aceh, for drinking alcohol and being alone together after dark. The women fainted after being beaten 40 times on Friday outside a mosque in central Aceh, witnesses said. They were taken to a hospital, but had no serious injuries.
For more information, see: Jakarta Post, 29 August 2005

2004

Rad Zemah Sinyaj Mohammed (f), Indian national (United Arab Emirates)
Wasini bint Sarjan (f), Indonesian national (United Arab Emirates)

Crime: Sex out of Wedlock or “Adultery”

In 2004, Rad Zemah Sinyaj Mohammed and Wasini bint Sarjan were working as domestic helpers in Ras Al Khaima, U.A.E.

According to reports in a local Ras al-Khaimah paper, police arrested them after their sponsors (either their employers or employment agency) reported that they were pregnant. After pregnancy tests confirmed the allegation, they were referred to the emirate’s Shari’a court.

As neither woman is believed to be married, they were charged with the crime of sex outside of wedlock. Rad Zemah Sinyaj Mohammed was sentenced to 150 lashes and deportation back to India. Wasini bint Sarjan was sentenced to one year jail time, 100 lashes and deportation back to Indonesia.

For more information, see

2003

Zuwayra Shinkafi (f) and Sani Yahaya (m) (Nigeria)
Crime: Extra-marital sex or “Adultery”
July 2003

Zuwayra Shinkafi, a young teenage girl was married to an unnamed man and lived in the village of Shinkafi. She was having a consensual extra-marrital relationship with Sanj Yahaya, a teenage boy from Gusau village. A local monitoring group got news of the affair and arrested both of them in Gusau, where they were tried by the Upper Sharia Court, charged with the `crime`of sex outside marraige and subsequently flogged, all within two or three days.

Sanj Yahaya was given 80 lashes of the whip and sentenced to ten months imprisonment, while Zuwayra received 30 lashes of the whip, because she was `not considered mature`.

For more information, see

Unnamed Girl (Sudan)
Crime: “Adultery”
May 2003

An unnamed 14 year old girl who was 9 months pregnant was arrested by the Peoples Police Force in the Wihida neighbourhood of Nyala, Darfur and sentenced to 100 lashes of the whip for the crime of “adultery”, in the Wihida neighbourhood of Nyala, Darfur. A 25-year old businessman, Alsir Sabeel Nour Aldeen, was charged in connection with the incident, but was found not guilty and freed “for the lack of evidence.”

For more information, see 2003 Report on the Human Rights Situation in Sudan by the Sudanese Organization against Torture (SOAT)

Aziza Salih Adam (Sudan)
Crime: Not wearing socks to cover her feet
June 2003

On 1 June 2003, 15 year old Aziza Salih Adam was sentenced to 30 lashes of the whip by the District Court (Mahkamat Al- Muhafiza, formerly known as the Public Order Court, Al- Nizam Al- ‘Aam) in Nyala, Western Darfur. Aziza, who works as an assistant to street- vendor selling tea in the Wehda district of Nyala, received this sentence for not wearing socks to cover her feet. The punishment was carried out on the same day as the sentencing.

For more information, see 2003 Report on the Human Rights Situation in Sudan by the Sudanese Organization against Torture (SOAT)

Um Alnas Mohamed Ahmed (21), Hanan Abdulrahman Mohamed (19), Hagir Mohamed Ahmed (18), Nimat Abakr Abdelgadir (19), Rasha Bahr Aldin Adam (18), Fatima Abdulla Adam (20), Gada Mosa Hamid (18), Shamael Omar Fadl (22), Hawa Yousif Abdelgadir (18), Fathia Ahmed Abdulrahman (18), Laila Adam Siraj (20), Kaltoum Isam Adam (22), Rawda Abdelgabar Mohamed (20), Zahra Hassan Ali (21), Gadah Abdelgabar (19), Asma Mohamed Ahmed (18) and Zakia Altayeb

Crime: “Adultery”
Novermber 2003

According to the information received, between 12 and 20 November 2002, 17 women in Munwashi, a village about 8 kilometers north of Nyala in Darfour, Western Sudan, were convicted of adultery and sentenced to 100 lashes of the whip. The charges of adultery were based solely on the fact that all of the women are unmarried but have children between the ages of 6 and 12 months.

For more information, see