By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA- An Islamic court of appeals in
Malaysia on Monday upheld the sentence of six strokes of the cane which will be
given to a Muslim woman. She was caught
drinking beer in public at a resort. She
was caught by Islamic enforcement officers.
The significance of this ruling means that
the woman, Kartika Sari Dewo Shukarno, a former model and nurse and a 32-year
old mother of two, is set to become the first woman to be caned under the
country’s religious laws that apply only to Muslims. Analysts have stated that
the government fears that the punishment could damage Malaysia’s reputation
abroad. Malaysia uses a two-track legal
system; where the majority Malays are subject to Islamic law, while the Chinese
and Indian minorities are not.
After being arrested for drinking beer in a beachfront
hotel in December 2007, she was originally told she would receive six strokes
of a rattan cane during the last weeks of August. This was delayed until after Ramadan and after
a further review the ruling was subsequently upheld earlier in the week.
Women’s minister Shahrizat Jalil, the chief
judge of Pahang state appeals court called the verdict excessive, stating that
it projected a “cruel image” of Malaysia.
“The overriding view was that the sentence meted out was too harsh and
is not commensurate with the offense,” she told reporters.
The Prime Minister Najib Razak urged Shukarno
to appeal. However, Shukarno’s case previously
garnered widespread media attention after she refused to appeal her
sentence. Shukarno asked that her
punishment be carried out in public, saying that she wanted serve as an example
to other Muslims. This has triggered a
debate over the use of Islamic laws in the moderate Muslim country, where the
country’s majority Malay-Muslims make up 55% of the country’s 27 million
population.
It is now in the hands of Pahang Islamic
Religious Department to carry out the sentence. A thin stick is used for the caning since the
punishment is less about pain than it is about symbolism and humiliation. No date has yet been set for the caning.
For more information, please see:
BBC News- Malaysia To Review Caning Woman- 25 August 2009
BBC News- Malaysia Upholds Woman’s Caning- 28 September 2009
USA Today- Court Uphold Caning of Malaysian
Woman For Drinking Beer- 28 September 2009
Digital City-Court Upholds Caning of Woman
For Drinking Beer- 28 September 28,
2009




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