The Jakarta Post, Indonesia, 12 August 1997

Reckless drivers flogged in UAE

Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates (AFP) - Police in an emirate of the southern Gulf believe they have found an effective method to curb road accidents -- by flogging reckless drivers.

After years of rising accident statistics, road crashes in Ras al-Khaimah have started to decrease just a few months after police decided to whip reckless motorists in public.

Al-Bayan newspaper, citing a police report, said yesterday that accidents in Ras al-K. totaled 1321 in the first half of 1997, a fall of 191 on the same period in 1996.

Road deaths dropped from 27 to 22.

"The decline is a result of measures by the traffic police, including stepping up road patrols, public flogging and confiscation of cars for long periods of time," a police official told the daily.

Previous: 7 April 1997 - Flogging for the Fast Lane

The Jakarta Post, Indonesia, 25 August 1997

UAE to lash four Indians

ABU DHABI (AFP) -- An Islamic court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has sentenced four Indians to a public lashing for possessing pornographic films, newspapers reported yesterday.

The four were watching a film on video when police raided their home in the northern emirate of Ras Al-Khaimah near the strategic Hormuz Strait.

One will be flogged 80 times and deported after a one-month imprisonment, while two will get 50 lashes each and the other 40.

Ras Al-Khaimah is one of the most conservative Moslem emirates in the UAE, where around 450,000 Indians live.