Woman Caned To Death in Bangladeshi

A Bangladeshi woman who was publicly caned for an alleged extramarital affair with her stepson has died, and police have arrested two people, according to media reports.

Sufia Begum, 50, was sentenced by an Islamic court in her village in the northwest Rajshahi district, police told Agence France-Presse, and was whipped 40 times on Nov. 12.

"She became seriously ill and was hospitalized after the caning, and she died last week," police chief Azizul Haq Sarker told AFP.

A Muslim cleric and the woman who carried out the beating were arrested, AFP reported. The BBC said authorities are looking for four more people.

"Village elders tied 10 canes together and beat her legs," Sarker said, according to AFP.

Begum was hospitalized in Rajshahi with severe injuries a week after the beating, the BBC said, noting that it's unclear why it took so long for her to get treatment. Doctors had recommended that she seek treatment in the capital, Dhaka, because her injuries were so serious.

But she died as her family struggled to raise money for the effort. Her kidneys were badly damaged, her brother, Taimur Rahman, told the Herald Sun of Australia.

"Her body was swollen, and I couldn't even recognize her," he told the BBC.

The BBC said it has not yet been determined that Begum died from caning-related injuries.

Bangladesh outlawed punishments in the name of religious edicts earlier this year, media reports said. But advocacy groups say it's common for women to be whipped or caned for offenses like adultery despite the ban, AFP said.

The death of Begum, who the BBC said was in her 40s, was thought to be the first since the punishments were outlawed. See Chick's MEN OF PEACE?