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A Malaysian model, who was set to become the first woman caned in the southeast Asian country for drinking beer in public, was inexplicably spared her sentence Monday, her father said.
Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno was inexplicably spared her sentence for drinking beer in public. Authorities had picked up Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, from her father's house Monday morning and were taking her to a prison in the eastern state of Pahang when the van turned around and brought her back."They sent her back to the house. They said the top official asked them not to bring her to Kuala Lumpur," said Kartika's father, Shukarno Abdul Muttalib.It was not immediately known whether authorities had dropped the sentence or postponed it. It was also not clear who had ordered Kartika returned.
"Now I am frightened and I am going to the police station to make a report," the father said. "I don't want them to say that Kartika ran away when they came here. I want them to know she was returned."Kartika refused to get out of the van until her release had been confirmed in writing.Don't Miss
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An Islamic, or sharia, court in the eastern state of Pahang had fined Kartika -- a Muslim -- $1,400 (5,000 Malaysian ringgit) and sentenced her to six strokes with a rattan cane for drinking at a hotel bar two years ago.Kartika, a 32-year-old part-time model and mother of two, was visiting Malaysia from Singapore at the time.She pleaded guilty, paid the fine, and wanted her caning to be carried out in public.
She said she lost her job as a nurse in Singapore and took up modeling to support her husband in raising their children. Her 7-year-old son has cerebral palsy; her 5-year-old daughter, a heart condition."I want to move on. This case has been hanging over me for a long time," she told CNN last week.On Monday morning, Kartika hugged her children, bade a tearful goodbye to the throngs of people gathered at her father's house, and boarded the van.
She was to be taken to a prison on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. The caning would have been carried out within seven days after that, making her the first woman to be caned in Malaysia under sharia law.source: cnn.com