WUNRN
Malaysia:
Caning of Kartika Deferred Indefinitely Pending Review
Update on: UPDATE:
Malaysia: Kartika released, caning sentence postponed
28/08/2009: Malaysia said Tuesday a caning sentence handed to 32 year old
Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno for drinking beer would be reviewed because it was
“too harsh” and could damage the nation’s reputation.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul
Jalil said the chief judge of a state Shariah appeals court had ordered the
sentence to be deferred pending the review. “The overriding view was that the
sentence meted out was too harsh and is not commensurate with the offence,” she
said.
“We are equally concerned not only for Kartika Sari, but also for the fact that this one particular case could have damaged the image of Malaysia in its fair and just implementation of the Shariah law.”
Prime Minister Najib Razak earlier Tuesday urged Kartika to appeal the sentence, which has generated unwelcome headlines and jeopardised Malaysia’s image as a moderate Muslim-majority nation.
“I believe the authorities concerned are sensitive on this matter and realise the implications of this case,” he said.
“I feel the person concerned should appeal to the state authorities and not be so willing to accept the punishment.”
But the mother of two, who has stared down religious authorities by challenging them to cane her in public, again refused and said that if the courts wanted to back down they should do so openly.
“I won’t file any appeal,” she said in a telephone interview with AFP. "Carry on and cane me, don’t waste my time.”
Kartika said she had sought the advice of a judge and a religious scholar in her family’s home state of Perak, who advised her to “calm down and keep quiet for the time being” while legal authorities discussed her fate.
Human rights group Amnesty International has urged Malaysia to abolish the “cruel and degrading punishment.”
The conservative Islamic party PAS said Tuesday however that religious authorities should not be deterred by pressure from civil society groups, and that the thrashing should go ahead immediately.
Hypocrisy
"I have known Kartika since she was a small girl," said one 64-year-old villager, Wan Alawiah.
"She is a good girl and I'm sad she will be caned but I ask myself why Kartika is being caned when a lot of other Muslims drink. I feel she has been victimized," she said.
Alcohol is widely available in Malaysia but is forbidden for Muslim Malays, who make up 60% of the population. They can be fined, caned, or jailed for up to three years but prosecutions are extremely rare.
Sources: New Straits Times/Channel News Asia
BACKGROUND
Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno was sentenced to six lashes and a fine of 5,000
ringgit ($1,400) for consuming alcohol. Shukarno, a 32-year-old model, pleaded
guilty in the court in eastern Pahang state to a charge of drinking beer when
Islamic authorities raided a hotel nightclub. Consuming alcohol is a religious
offense in Malaysia only for Muslims, who make up nearly two-thirds of the
population. Offenders are prosecuted in Shariah courts, which handle cases
mainly related to family and moral issues for Muslims. Most offenders are
fined, but the law also provides for a three-year prison term and caning.
Shukarno was the only Muslim caught in the raid at the Pahang nightclub.
Malaysian clubs and lounges typically serve alcohol but are not legally
required to check if customers are Muslim before serving them, so the hotel
nightclub operators were not charged with any offense.
________________________________________________________________________
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Sent: Saturday, August 22, 2009 9:17 AM
Subject: Malaysia - Woman to be Caned for Drinking Alcohol - Call
for Intervention
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Women Living Under Muslim Laws -
WLUML
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Malaysia
- Urgent Appeal for Intervention
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Stay Sentence of Woman's Caning
BACKGROUND
Kartika Sari
Dewi Shukarno was sentenced to six lashes and a fine of 5,000 ringgit ($1,400)
for consuming alcohol. Shukarno, a 32-year-old model, pleaded guilty in the
court in eastern Pahang state to a charge of drinking beer when Islamic
authorities raided a hotel nightclub. Consuming alcohol is a religious offense
in Malaysia only for Muslims, who make up nearly two-thirds of the population.
Offenders are prosecuted in Shariah courts, which handle cases mainly related
to family and moral issues for Muslims. Most offenders are fined, but the law
also provides for a three-year prison term and caning. Shukarno was the only
Muslim caught in the raid at the Pahang nightclub. Malaysian clubs and lounges
typically serve alcohol but are not legally required to check if customers are
Muslim before serving them, so the hotel nightclub operators were not charged
with any offense.
________________________________________________________________________
21/08/2009: The Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) international solidarity
network is deeply concerned to learn that Madam Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32,
is to be detained for seven days effective 24 August 2009. The Syariah High
Court has issued a warrant of arrest ordered for women's prison in Kajang,
before receiving six strokes of the rotan.
Reports
indicate this would make her one of the first woman to be caned in this way in
Malaysia.
The Syariah High Court has ordered for Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, to be
detained for seven days effective Aug 24 in preparation for being whipped six
times.
The order was obtained following an application by Syarie deputy public prosecutor Saiful Idham Sahimi, who filed it at the court here yesterday.
The court also granted the prosecution’s application for Kartika’s caning to be carried out within the seven days of her detention at the women’s prison in Kajang, that it be carried out by a female officer and for her to be released as soon as the punishment was meted out.
The application was heard before Syariah High Court Judge Justice Datuk Abdul Rahman Yunos in chambers.
On July 20, Kartika had been ordered to be caned and fined RM5,000 for consuming alcohol at a hotel night club in Cherating.
She was arrested by a team from the state religious department at 1.20am on July 12, 2007.
Although Kartika paid the fine, she did not appeal against the whipping order.
The mother of two was charged under Section 136 of the Pahang Islamic and Malay Traditional Practices Enactment (Amendment) 1987.
Under this section, those found guilty of consuming alcohol can be fined up to RM5,000 or jailed for a maximum of three years, or both, and sentenced to six strokes of the rotan.
The sentence for consuming alcohol was made stiffer when the Islamic Religious Administration and Pahang Malay Tradition Enactment was amended in 1987.
The punishment is provided for under Section 125(4) of the Syariah Criminal Procedure Enactment 2002, which spelled out how the caning should be carried out.
In Islamic law, the cane should not be thicker than the little finger on the hand and the cane cannot be lifted so high that the upper arm is away from the armpit.
19 August 2009
Source: The Star
For more background information: http://www.wluml.org/english/newsfulltxt.shtml?cmd[157]=x-157-565013 - Click website link for Full Article.
MALAYSIA: WOMAN TO BE CANED FOR DRINKING ALCOHOL
27/07/2009: "An Islamic court in Malaysia has sentenced a Muslim woman to be flogged with a rattan cane for having a beer in a nightclub, a court official said Tuesday. (New Straits Times / AP) .....
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