Kuala Lumpur, July 22 (Inditop.com) A part-time model, who is set to become the first woman in Malaysia to be caned under Islamic law for being found drinking beer in public, has decided that she would not appeal against her sentence.
Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, Wednesday decided that she will not appeal against her sentence.
However, her readiness to be the first Muslim woman to be caned under Section 136 of the Pahang Islamic and Malay Traditional Practices Enactment 1982 (amendment 1987) has posed a dilemma for the authorities tasked with carrying it out.
Only Muslim men have been caned so far.
Shukarno was sentenced to six strokes of the rotan (rattan cane) and a fine for drinking beer at a nightclub Monday.
The mother of two from Sungai Siput, Perak state, is married to a Singaporean.
Shukarno wept in the court when the sentence was announced.
Her lawyer Mohammed Zuki Che Muhamad Ghani said his client wanted the sentence to be carried out as soon as possible to allow her to continue with her life.
He said her decision was conveyed to the court when he turned up to pay the RM5,000 ($1,412) fine on her behalf Tuesday.
Judge Abdul Rahman Yunus, who had handed down the sentence on Shukarno, had said the caning would be carried out by the federal prison authorities.
Ghani said the prison authorities could not carry it out as the judgment did not include a jail term, NST Online said.
However, following a meeting with the judge and Sharia deputy prosecutor Saiful Idhan Sahimi, Zuki said the court would issue a special warrant to detain Shukarno.
Pahang Sharia chief prosecutor Abdul Rahim Jaafar said the caning would not cause physical injury as it was merely to make the offender feel repentant.
