KUALA LUMPUR – A 42-year-old father of five faces a public caning at a mosque in Malaysia after being convicted of the Islamic crime of khalwat, or close proximity between unmarried couples, for the third time, a state official and media reports said.

A Syariah Court judge in the conservative north-eastern state of Terengganu on Nov 20 sentenced the man, a construction worker, to six strokes of the cane and a fine after he pleaded guilty to the offence, news agency Bernama reported.