A Shariah court in Malaysia has issued an arrest warrant against a woman who was fined and sentenced to six strokes of cane in July for consuming alcohol, which is prohibited in Islam.
The Islamic Shariah High Court in the eastern Pahang state has said that Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, a part-time model from Singapore will be detained at the women's prison for a week from Monday.
The prison's director will carry out the whipping and release Kartika after the punishment has been served, the judge said.
It will make her the first woman in the country to receive the Shariah caning.
Kartika pleaded guilty to consuming beer in public when she made her first court appearance in December 2008.
She was fined 5,000 ringgit (about Rs 65,000) and sentenced to be caned with a rattan, which is lighter compared to the whipping under civil law.
Kartika settled the fine and refused to make an appeal.
A mother of two, Kartika who is a Malaysian, became a permanent resident of Singapore after marrying a Singaporean.
The sentence for consuming alcohol was made stiffer when the Islamic Religious Administration and Pahang Malay Tradition Enactment 1982 was amended in 1987.
