Tonga stops whipping

Tonga's Appeal Court yesterday overturned a flogging sentence imposed on two 17-year-olds by a British judge serving in the kingdom, describing it as a "cruel and inhumane" punishment.

The teenagers, who pleaded guilty to multiple burglaries and escaping from prison, had been sentenced to six lashes and 13 years in jail.

However, the appeal court reduced the penalty to six years' jail.

"This is the first time in almost 30 years that a judge in Tonga has ordered prisoners to be whipped," the judgment said.

"We note too that various human rights bodies... and the European Court of Human Rights have all described whipping or flogging as cruel inhumane and degrading." No prisoner has been whipped in Tonga since the 1980s.