Malaysian Woman Escapes Caning Over Drinking Beer in Public
THE TELEGRAPH: A Muslim woman sentenced to be caned for drinking beer has had her punishment commuted, in a surprising turnaround for a high-profile case that raised questions about Malaysia's Islamic laws.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a mother of two, received a letter from the Pahang state Islamic department informing her that the state's sultan had decided to spare her the caning, her lawyer, Adham Jamalullail, said.

The order is likely to cool down a fiery debate over whether Islamic laws should intrude into people's private lives in the Muslim-majority country. Many people had condemned the punishment, saying it showed conservative Islamists were gaining influence over the justice system.

Mr Adham said that "as a substitution for the caning, the sultan has ordered Kartika to perform community service for three weeks." >>> | Thursday, April 01, 2010

New Dark Age Alert! Shariah Law – For Extra-marital Sex? Cane Them!
MAIL ONLINE: Three Muslim women who were the first in Malaysia to be caned for having sex outside marraige this morning claimed the punishment was an opportunity for them to repent.

Prison authorities caned the women last week after an Islamic Shariah court issued the penalty.

The caning has outraged rights groups and revived speculation that conservative Islamists, who advocate harsh punishment, are gaining influence in the country.

The three women, aged 17-25, said they turned themselves in after feeling guilty for sleeping with their boyfriends before marriage and getting pregnant.

The 17-year-old told reporters that she surrendered to Islamic authorities after her prematurely born child died.

She is now serving a six-month prison sentence.

'I know I have sinned, and I have to be punished. Strangely however, I felt that the caning was not a form of punishment but was an opportunity for me to repent and return to the right path,' she said.

She has already married her boyfriend, who has also been caned and jailed over the offence.

The other women, who have one young child each, are planning to marry their partners after they are released.

The men were also caned for having sex. 'We deserved our punishment': What three Muslim Malaysian women said after being caned for having sex outside marriage >>> | Saturday, February 20, 2010

Three Malaysian Women Caned for Having Extramarital Sex
TIMES ONLINE: Malaysia has caned three women for having extramarital sex, in a move at odds with the moderate Islamic nation that the Government wants to project to the world.

Announcing the sentence, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein declined to say who was caned, where the whipping took place and on what part of the body.

One woman was released from prison last week after spending a month behind bars.

Malaysia has increasingly applied Sharia, or Islamic law, to its Muslim citizens, who make up 60 percent of the country's 28 million people, raising concerns that a more militant brand of Islam is taking hold in a country that prides itself on its multiracial, multireligious image. >>> Luke Hunt in Kuala Lumpur | Thursday, February 18, 2010

In Malay-Muslim Heartland, Caning Wins Support
REUTERS: KOTA BHARU, Malaysia - The end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan this weekend could see Islamic authorities in Malaysia carry out the country's first caning sentence on a woman, a punishment that is fast gaining support.

Although the penalty has been condemned by rights groups and is being reviewed by an Islamic appeal court, it is endorsed by conservative Muslims whose influence is on the rise in this multi-racial, Southeast Asian country of 27 million people.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, was caught drinking beer in a hotel and faces six strokes of the cane.

There are concerns the caning could damage Malaysia's image at a time when it is liberalizing its economy to attract more foreign investment. But for many people in Kelantan, a poor rural state, it is more important to see justice done.

"Her punishment is not severe, it will educate people. It will be a good lesson especially after Ramadan," said Runaidah Abdul Hamid, a housewife, as she bought vegetables to prepare for the breaking of the fast during Ramadan.

"Kartika will become more Muslim," said Rahayu Nizam Nawi, a vegetable seller in northern Kelantan's capital, Khota Bharu.
Kartika said she accepts the six strokes of the cane and has called for the sentence despite moves by the government, including Prime Minister Najib Razak, to review the punishment.

Malaysia practices a dual-track legal system, with Islamic criminal and family laws applicable only to Muslims, running alongside civil laws. If Kartika is caned, she will be fully clothed. "CITY OF ISLAM" >>> Niluksi Koswanage and Razak Ahmad, Editing by David Chance and Jonathon Burch | Thursday, September 17, 2009

Model Who Drank Beer to Be First Woman Caned in Malaysia
THE TELEGRAPH: Muslim model Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno has become the first woman in Malaysia to be sentenced to a caning after being caught drinking beer in a beach resort.

The 32-year-old will receive six lashes at a woman's prison next week in what is being viewed as an example of the growing influence of Islamic hardliners on the country.

The mother-of-two who lives in Singapore with her husband, paid a fine of £860, but declined to lodge an appeal so she could get the punishment over with and put the episode behind her.

The harsh sentence has provoked anger among women's rights groups who fear it is another sign of the creeping influence of conservative Islam on Malaysian society.

In the northern backwater state of Kalentan ruled by the hardline Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, authorities have decreed that supermarkets must have separate checkout queues for men and women and beaches be segregated.

Young couples caught sitting too close together on park benches in the state capital, Kota Baru, are hunted down by the city's moral enforcers and fined up to £285 in Sharia courts.

The Islamic alcohol prohibition laws in Malaysia's eastern Pahang state date back more than two decades. But Malaysian-born Kartika, who now has Singaporean citizenship, is the first woman to fall foul of them.

She was arrested in July last year in a hotel nightclub in the beach resort of Cherating during a raid by the state's religious department and admitted drinking beer.

An Islamic court fined her and ordered her to be caned at Kajang women's prison next week, but spared her a jail term of up to three years.

She received word of the sentence from her father and said she would be returning to Malaysia from Singapore.

"I accept the punishment," she said. "I am not afraid because I was ready to be punished from day one. [The authorities] hope to use my case as a way to educate Muslims. So go ahead. I want to move on with my life." >>> Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok | Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Muslim Woman to Be Caned for Drinking a Beer
BALTIMORE SUN BLOG: A 32-year-old Muslim woman, a model, was sentenced this week to six strokes with a rattan cane for drinking a beer in a nightclub.

Word of this event, reported by the Associated Press in Australia and picked up The Huffington Post, comes from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Consuming alcohol is a religious offense in Malaysia only for Muslims, who make up nearly two-thirds of the population, reports say. Offenders are prosecuted in Shariah courts, which handle cases mainly related to family and moral issues for Muslim.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno was sentenced Monday to six lashes and a fine of 5,000 ringgit ($1,400) for consuming alcohol.

Earlier news sources reported the woman would appeal the sentence. But yesterday the blog Nuraiana A. Samad's 3540 Jalan Sudin said the woman had decided not to appeal. There seemed to confusion, however, over who would strike the blows. Technically, she has to be in prison to be caned. She is not in prison.

The caning inflicts more shame than corporal punishment, a Malaysian official claims. Easy for him to say. [Source: Batimore Sun Blog] | Rob Kaspar | Comment here