Four men in Malaysia have been caned for having gay sex in violation of Islamic laws, in a move described by activists on Tuesday as “vicious punishments” that highlighted a crackdown on the nation’s LGBT community. Rights groups say there is a worsening climate for gay people in the Muslim-majority country, where authorities have maintained a colonial-era ban on sodomy and mete out harsh physical punishments for same-sex relations. The men, aged 26 to 37, received six strokes of the cane each on Monday for attempting “intercourse against the order of nature”, an offence under sharia law, Amnesty International said. They admitted to committing the offence in a flat last year, with an Islamic court also handing out fines to the men and sentencing them to jail terms of up to seven months each. Marriage law makes Taiwan even bigger beacon for LGBT Asians Religious authorities found out about the private event by monitoring messages between the men, and then sent a raiding party of 50 officers to detain them, according to Amnesty. A fifth man convicted with the others was not caned as he is appealing against the punishment, while a further six men arrested in the apartment raid are still facing charges, the rights group added. “These vicious punishments … are the actual crimes being committed here,” said Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu, Amnesty’s Malaysia executive director. “Malaysia should be creating an environment in which LGBT people are free from discrimination, not ensnaring and beating innocent people,” Shamini said. Malaysia has a dual-track legal system, with sharia courts handling some cases for Muslim citizens. Sodomy is a crime under the country’s regular criminal code as well as under Islamic law. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad last year said that Malaysia could not accept LGBT rights such as same-sex marriage, dismissing them as “western” values. A month before his remarks, two women were caned in a sharia court in what campaigners said was the first time the punishment had been used in Malaysia as part of a conviction for sex between two women.