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Malaysia to cane beer-drinking Muslim model
[Al Arabiya Latest] A Singaporean Muslim model who drank beer at a nightclub in Malaysia will be caned, press reports said Tuedsay.

A Malaysian religious court sentenced the tearful 22-year-old Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno to six strokes of the cane after she pleaded guilty to consuming alcohol, the English-language New Straits Times newspaper reported.

" The rotan is aimed at making the accused repent and serves as a lesson to Muslims "
Abdul Rahman Yunus, judge
"We feel the sentence is fair after going through the prosecution's argument and since the rotan (cane) is provided for in the law," Pahang Sharia High Court judge Abdul Rahman Yunus said, according to the paper. "The rotan is aimed at making the accused repent and serves as a lesson to Muslims," he added, also fining Kartika 5,000 ringgit ($1,412).

The part-time model said she would appeal the sentence.

She was with her Singaporean husband in a hotel nightclub in the eastern state of Pahang last year when syariah officers raided the lounge, nabbing 20 other Muslims for drinking alcohol, which is forbidden in Islam. Her husband was let off, according to an earlier report in the Times.

Noorazah Baharuddin, believed to be first woman in Malaysia sentenced to caning for drinking alcoholShe told the newspaper before the trial that "it was sheer bad luck" the lounge was raided.
Posted by: Fred 2009-07-22
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=274839