Monday, December 20, 2010

Two people have been arrested after the death of a Bangladeshi woman who was publicly caned for allegedly having an affair with her stepson, police say

A group of village elders and clerics sentenced Sufia Begum under Sharia law to 40 lashes for adultery. The 40-year-old died of her injuries almost a month after the beating in Rajshahi district, her family says. Two people, including a woman who allegedly took part in the beating, have been arrested. Police say they are looking for four others. "According to the information we've received, village elders tied 10 canes together and beat her four times," Masud Parvez, an investigating police officer, said. Begum was admitted to a hospital in Rajshahi, a city in the district of the same name, with severe injuries a week after the beating, which took place in November 2010 in a village in the north-west of the country. Nearly 90% of Bangladesh's estimated 160 million population are Muslims.

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