Britons get jail and caning in Singapore

A Singaporean judge has ordered three British men to be caned for sexually assaulting a Malaysian woman while on a stag party in Singapore.

Judicial Commissioner Hoo Sheau Peng, who also jailed the men for terms ranging from five-and-a-half to six-and-a-half years, called the conduct of defendants Khong Tam Thanh, 22, Vu Thai Son, 24, and Michael Le, 24, "reprehensible".

All three men, who were originally charged with rape, pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of aggravated "outrage of modesty" in what "appears to be a plea deal", says Singapore's Straits Times.

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The trio's sentence shines a spotlight on Singapore's use of caning as a judicial punishment. Human rights campaigners condemn it as a form of torture due to the reportedly excruciating pain it inflicts.

Its legality, which has previously led to diplomatic rows concerning the flogging of foreigners, was unsuccessfully challenged in 2015.

Widely reported as a legacy of British rule in the 19th century, caning is also lawful in other former British colonies in Asia, including Malaysia and Brunei, says the BBC.

According to the Guardian, Singaporean authorities carried out "close to 1000 caning sentences [in 2016]". The number is "pale in comparison to Malaysia… [where] some 10,000 prisoners and 6,000 refugees are caned each year", adds the BBC. According to the broadcaster, caning is not only used as a judicial punishment for secular laws, but also a "relatively common" punishment for "transgressions in countries where Islamic laws are followed."

These include Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Maldives, as well as the Aceh district of Indonesia, where two men were recently and publicly caned for having consensual gay sex.