The recent gang rape case in Ketereh, Kelantan is proof that existing criminal law on the matter is an ineffective deterrent with Syariah criminal law the answer, according to PAS.

"The incident proves that criminals are not afraid of existing laws because the preventive element from Allah only exists in the system revealed by Allah.

"To those who oppose Islamic law, especially hudud, how would you feel if the one raped by those 38 men is your daughter?" said PAS vice-president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man in a statement today.

In his statement, he repeatedly bemoaned humanity for following its own laws instead of God’s, despite rising crime and social ills.

“Humanity stubbornly chooses other rules that it thinks are superior by rejecting laws revealed by his Creator,” he said.

The incident allegedly took place last week, where two female victims were lured to an empty house where they were ambushed and 38 men took turns to rape them. The ages of the victims are 14 and 17.

The police have thus far arrested 14 suspects in relation to the case, including a man and his two sons.

It was initially reported that there was only one victim - the 14 year-old - since the other victim only lodged a police report later on Wednesday.

Tuan Ibrahim said that the case cannot be prosecuted under hudud law because of several ambiguities in the case, such as the absence of impartial witnesses, the fact that the victims had followed some of the men to the house, and others.

However, it can still be prosecuted under takzir.

Takzir (discretion-based judgement) is a component of the Islamic penal code for crimes where the punishments are not spelled out in the Quran, unlike offences such as apostasy, theft and illicit sex, which would fall under hudud law.

“This does not mean that it is lesser than hudud, because takzir can be harsher than hudud if the court sees the need to mete out more severe punishments,” he said.

The PAS-led Kelantan government and the federal government are currently studying the implementation of Islamic criminal law via a joint technical committee, despite opposition from other parties such as MCA and DAP.

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