KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- The rapes and murders of two 10-year-old girls in Malaysia in one week have the government considering introducing public floggings for offenders.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has demanded swift action in the wake of the killings, the BBC reported Wednesday.
The death of the second victim, Nurulhuda Ghani, shook the whole country when details emerged she was raped and sodomized before being strangled.
Police in the southern state of Jahore have arrested three men in her killing.
Her death followed the rape and stabbing of another 10-year-old girl in Malaysian Borneo a week earlier.
Malaysian courts can already order rapists to be flogged but there are calls to make it a public event prior to execution.
Police recorded a 17 percent increase in the number of reported rapes between 2000 and 2002, with nearly two-thirds of the victims under age 16.
