The United Arab Emirates has sentenced two women to be flogged for becoming pregnant outside of marriage. Their names are Rad Zemah Mohammed and Wasini bint Sarjan. Flogging is torture. It is also a cruel and inhuman punishment. See Amnesty International's action alert and weigh in. Here's more:

Both women were working in the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah as domestic servants. According to reports in a local Ras al-Khaimah paper, police arrested them after their sponsors (either their employers or employment agency) reported that they were pregnant. After pregnancy tests confirmed the allegation, they were referred to the emirate's Shari'a court, where Rad Zemah Sinyai Mohammed reportedly confessed to having a sexual relationship outside wedlock. Wasini bint Sarjan allegedly made a similar confession, but later denied the charge. Neither woman is believed to be married.

....The UAE became a state party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, or the Women's Convention) in October 2004. Article 7 of the Convention expressly prohibits gender-based violence which violates "the right not to be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

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