 By Niluksi Koswanage 
 
 KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian authorities have caned three women under Islamic laws for the first time in the Southeast Asian country, the interior minister said on Wednesday. Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the sentences were carried out on February 9 after a religious court found them guilty of having sex out of wedlock. But Hishamuddin said the punishment was carried out "to educate and make the offenders realize their mistakes and to return to the right path." He also said the punishment did not cause any injury and that the women were remorseful and repented, Bernama reported. Malaysia, which considers itself a moderate Muslim country, has a dual-track justice system, in which Islamic courts operate alongside civil ones. Hishammuddin's comments signal that the mostly Muslim country is now prepared to flog Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a mother of two, for drinking beer, despite the international criticism that the case has garnered.
– For the first time in Malaysia's history, three women have been caned under Islamic law for having extramarital sex. "It was carried out perfectly," the country's home minister tells Reuters. "Even though the caning did not injure them, they said it caused pain within them." Amnesty International denounced the punishment, calling it "cruel, inhumane, degrading" and tantamount to torture. The women were beaten with rattan canes at a women's prison after they were found guilty of adultery by a religious court. The action suggests Malaysia may move forward with plans to cane Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, who was sentenced to flogging for drinking beer. Her case, which caused an international outcry, has been postponed pending review, CNN notes. Malaysia, a traditionally moderate Muslim nation, has a two-track legal system with both civil and religious courts.