Kartika is welcomed home by her father Suhkarno after the religious authorities temporarily freed her of her caning sentence yesterday. — Reuters pic
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 — PAS Youth wants the caning punishment against Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno for drinking beer to be meted out as requested by her and the family.
Its chief Nasrudin Hassan however said today he does not question the postponement of the sentencing which the authorities said was to respect the fasting month of Ramadan.
Kartika, a Singapore-based part time model and former nurse, was fined RM5,000 and sentenced to six strokes of the cane after she was caught drinking beer with her husband in a hotel in Kuantan in 2007.
“They have obtained conviction and as requested by her and family the sentence must be carried out,” Nasrudin told The Malaysian Insider.
“We do not want the syariah courts to be seen to be inconsistent or powerless,” he added, refusing to comment further on the sentence postponement.
On the legal complication that could arise from the punishment, he said the religious authorities should have studied the matter earlier.
“Any type of punishment must be according to the law, they should have thought of any legal obstacle during the trial,” said Nasrudin, adding that it only exposed the weakness of the syariah system.
Kartika was picked up yesterday by the religious authorities from her family home in Sungai Siput, Perak to be sent to the Kajang Prison for the sentence to be executed.
She was released soon after, and the authorities said the sentence could only be carried out after the fasting month, scheduled to end in late September.
The 32-year-old would have been remanded beginning yesterday for the caning to be carried out.
The decision to remand her in order to be whipped however was questioned by legal experts as it opened up the Pahang government to legal action as she was never given a custodial sentence.
However, Prisons Department rules state that only prisoners can be caned. Both Kartika and her father have asked for a public caning which is not a punishment under Malaysian laws.
Civil rights group have asked the authorities to rescind the whipping sentence, saying that corporal punishment is against human rights. The sentence has also whipped up an international media storm.
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