A Muslim model drank a beer at a nightclub, and now faces 6 lashes with a rattan cane for her "crime."
A Malaysian Shariah high court, or strict Islamic court, sentenced 32-year-old Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, of Singapore, on Monday for violating Muslim law against consuming alcohol, The Associated Press reported.
Authorities busted Shukarno during a 2008 raid on a Malaysian hotel nightclub--she was the only one to be arrested or charged--and prosecuted her crime aggressively.
Shukarno pleaded guilty and was fined the equivalent of $1,400, in addition to 6 lashes with a bamboo-like cane--something typically reserved for male offenders. She is spared from a 3-year prison sentence, unless she fails to pay her fine.
Judge Abdul Rahman Yunus said the punishment "is aimed at making the accused repent and serves as a lesson to Muslims," according to The New Straits Times.
Malaysia has secular courts as well as Shariah courts, which are reserved for matters of family, morality and religion. Since one-third of the country's population is not Muslim, there are no alcohol bans at bars and clubs. Bartenders are not required to check the religion of customers, which is why the hotel bartender was not arrested for serving the model.
Shukarno plans to appeal the sentence, the New Straits Times says.
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This would be the second time the country's Shariah court ordered a female whipped.
