The Islamists occupying northern Mali on Wedneday gave a couple 100 lashes of a whip for having a child out of wedlock.

“At Sankore Square in Timbuktu, a man and a woman got 100 lashes for having had a child outside of marriage,” said a local official.

Ansar Dine(Defenders of Faith) seized control of the north of Mali in late March and has implemented strict Islamic law. Hundred lashes are the punishment for “fornicators” or those who have sex outside of marriage. The woman’s family said she is 18 years old and already has a baby, and is also three months pregnant.

An Islamic police official said six other women who had had children outside of marriage would soon be “punished by Islamic law”.

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