Violators face both civil and criminal punishments – unmarried couples caught in the act could be made to marry immediately by the Islamic authorities and then charged with public obscenities, which carries a prison term. It is still unclear what offenses fall under the ban, which is being enforced in one of Yala’s districts, but a senior cleric said they include a conversation between a man and a woman.
The rule was implemented by the mosque in Dec. 2019. It states that unmarried men and women who “display actions of being a couple or adulterous acts, either in public or private spaces” would be punished by the police and the religious authorities in the district.
The offending couple would also be married at the local mosque, with their parents and local imam summoned first for a discussion, according to the order. The local police in Yaha would then be brought to prosecute the couple for sexual obscenity, which carries a maximum penalty of five to 20 years.
A committee member of the Yaha Mosque said restrictions on physical contact between unmarried couples is for their own good.
“We’re not preventing people from communicating or talking. But if they are talking, then there should be a third party,” Sutimat Mahamad, imam of the Yaha Central Mosque said Sunday. “If there is a third party, we will not get involved at all. But if they’re talking one-on-one, the police will arrest them.”
Photo released by Yaha Police Station reportedly shows security officers patrolling at night to look for unmarried couples who behave inappropriately in public. Image: Sayutee Kateh / Facebook