The federal government has to be more serious now in enacting law based on Islamic criminal law as an alternative to the existing civil law that has been proven failed to stop crime of rape.

PAS central ulama council chief, Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali at-Takiri in a media statement said that rape crimes can be dealt using Hudud and Takzir.

He said this as a response to the May 20 case, where two high school students aged 15 and 17 were raped by 38 men in Ketereh, Kelantan.

Dr Mohd Khairuddin said, police statistics state that among the highest crimes in Malaysia are property crimes involving theft and violent crimes involving robbery and rape.

Section 376 of the Penal Code state the sentence for rape offenders is a minimum of five years imprisonment and a maximum of 20 years and whipping.

“Islam categorizes rape as forced adultery and is wrong under Hudud law. A sentence can be carried out on the rapist if it was witnessed by four individuals or by a confession of the accused,” explained Dr Mohd Khairuddin.

Dr Mohd Khairuddin explains that there are two types of punishment for rapists who are found guilty:

1) Stoning to death if the offender had experienced sexual intercourse through legal marriage.

2) 100 lashes on offenders who have not experienced sexual intercourse through legal marriage and imprisonment for one year.

However, if there is no four witnesses or a confession by the accused, he may be convicted on other evidence such as DNA, medical reports and other evidence and sentenced to Takzir at the discretion of the court.

“Takzir sentences can be harsher than Hudud if the courts view that there is a need for it. Under Takzir there is the death penalty. Especially in gang rape cases which has caused physical and mental trauma and injury to the victim,” he said.

Dr Mohd Khairuddin explained the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code II and Terengganu Syariah Criminal Enactment 2002.

“The Terengganu enactment under Section 9 (2) states that a complaint by a woman that she was raped by one person without being able to bring witnesses as required by Qarinah, must be investigated and if the required conditions are not met under Islamic law to punish offenders under Hudud and instead there is enough evidence that cannot be refuted by evidence either directly or indirectly indicating the offender had sexual intercourse using force and without her consent, the offender shall be punished with Takzir and the woman cannot be said to have committed Qazaf (accusation against one's chastity),” explained Dr Mohd Khairuddin.

Dr Mohd Khairuddin in the statement also cited Takzir in Islamic law which allows rape offenders to pay compensation in damages for the dignity of the victims.

“This is not allowed under civil law. The rape victim will just be humiliated,” he said.

Dr Mohd Khairuddin also wants the federal government to present a bill that allows the Syariah Criminal Code II Kelantan and Terengganu Syariah Criminal Enactment 2002 to be implemented at state level as the initial model in Malaysia.