A Malaysian court charged three policemen with raping a 25-year-old Indonesian woman at a police station in a case that has led to outrage in the neighbouring country.
The three policemen, aged 21, 25 and 33, pleaded not guilty in a district court in northern Penang state to charges of rape and forced “carnal intercourse against the order of nature”, said prosecutor Nur Ashikin Mokhtar.
Both charges carry prison sentences of up to 20 years and punishments of whipping. The men will next appear in court on December 12, the prosecutor said.
The three men — a corporal and two constables — stopped the woman, a restaurant worker, in a taxi last Friday. When she failed to produce her passport they took her to the police station and allegedly gang-raped her.
In a separate case, Malaysian police are investigating a man for allegedly raping his Indonesian maid in Seremban town, near the capital Kuala Lumpur. During her ordeal the 15-year-old was tied up and left without food for four days.
The cases have caused anger in Indonesia, and the Malaysian government has condemned the acts. Relations between the neighbours have been tense over frequent reports of worker abuse in recent years.
In 2009, Indonesia, the main supplier of foreign workers to Malaysia, stopped sending maids across the border.
Jakarta announced last December it would lift the ban after the two countries agreed to better protect the women, but few maids are reported to have gone to work in Malaysia since then.
Activists have frequently accused Malaysian police of abuse, such as the beating of detainees, but it is rare that policemen appear in court.
Malaysian police are also under fire over fears of rising crime as personal tales of abduction, assault and robbery go viral online, triggering scrutiny of official claims that offences have reduced significantly in recent years.
Malaysia policemen charged with raping Indonesian
