Malaysia urged to end caning (in prisons. Amnesty: Practice has reached "epidemic proportions")

[Turborama]

Source: Al Jazeera English

Amnesty International has urged the Malaysian government to ban caning in prisons, saying the practice has reached "epidemic proportions" that amount to torture. The organisation said the punishment, which rips into the victim's naked skin, is being used for immigration violations, meaning thousands of migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers are being subject to it.

"It's intentionally inflicting severe pain and suffering - it fits the international definition for torture - something that's prohibited under any circumstances," Lance Lattig, one of the authors of the report by Amnesty told Al Jazeera on Monday.

"According to our figures, more than 10,000 people are caned by authorities in Malaysia annually and this number is actually a conservative estimate," he said in a separate statement.

He said the practice was introduced by British colonial authorities prior to Malaysia's independence in 1957 but that most former colonies had abandoned it. "It exists as a residue of an extremely brutal form of Victorian punishment that exists in very few other places," he said.

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/12/2010126154533624386.html