Malaysia beer drink woman's caning sentence commuted

A Malaysian woman sentenced to be caned for drinking beer has had her punishment commuted.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor had pleaded guilty to the offence under Malaysia's Islamic law and was to have received six strokes of a rattan cane.

But her family said religious officials had overturned the ruling, ordering her to carry out community service instead.

Ms Kartika's original sentence, which had been delayed several times, had provoked fierce debate.

While drinking alcohol is forbidden for Muslims, prosecutions are rare.

Ms Kartika's family was informed by letter that the sultan of Pahang state, where Ms Kartika was arrested for drinking beer in a beachfront hotel in December 2007, had overturned the ruling.

The religious leader has the power to rule on matters of Islamic law.

Kartika will go on with her life

Shukarno Mutalib
"The sultan has decided that the caning sentence will be substituted with a three-week community service at a children's home in Pahang from 2 April," Ms Kartika's father, Shukarnor Mutalib, told the AFP news agency.

"Kartika was expecting a caning, she is surprised by this development as she will be separated from her children for three weeks, but we respect the sultan's decision," he said.

"We will abide by the order. Kartika will go on with her life," he told the Associated Press news agency.

The commutation was welcomed by Malaysia's Bar Council, which had called caning "anachronistic and inconsistent with a compassionate society".

"Our view is that no one should be caned. We are against any form of corporal punishment," council Ragunath Kesavan told the AFP news agency.

The case had caused controversy in Malaysia, where Muslims are subject to Islamic law in personal matters, and attracted international criticism.

Ms Kartika, a mother of two, had not appealed against her sentence and had asked that her punishment be carried out in public.

When first convicted, she seemed set to become the first woman to be caned in Malaysia.

But in February, three women were caned at a prison near the capital, Kuala Lumpur, for having extra-marital sex, leading to fears Ms Kartika's punishment would also go ahead.




- All I can say is thank God. I understand that Muslims cannot drink alcohol, and I respect that. It's a completely foreign concept to me because Western culture thrives off alcohol, but I still respect it. However, I do not agree with or respect caning. Her initial sentence was six strokes with the cane and a fine. Breaking the law by drinking beer does not make assault okay. And yes, anyway you word it, caning is assault. It is just not an appropriate form of punishment, and I feel that it is outrageous that women who had sex out of wedlock were punished this way just over a month ago. I can respect a different culture, but as soon as you're talking about beating someone with a cane, human rights outweighs religion. I am thrilled by the way this situation panned out though. I'm glad that there were people criticizing the sentence and standing up for this woman. Now, she has the much more appropriate punishment of community service. I hope that in the future with cases like this, people will continue to speak out against abusive sentences and that the government in countries such as Malaysia will continue to make judgements calls consistent with "a compassionate society".