Free Republic

A MUSLIM model sentenced to caning for drinking beer in Malaysia said on Thursday she had been summoned for punishment this week by a local religious authority. Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 33, was sentenced last year under Islamic law to six lashes and a fine by a religious court in the moderate Muslim-majority country... An appeals panel upheld the ruling despite the avalanche of criticism, including the government saying the sentence was "too harsh", although it is not clear what punishment she may now receive. Kartika, whose case has fuelled a debate over rising "Islamisation" of the multi-ethnic country, was...