Woman sentenced to caning for having beer

KUANTAN, Malaysia, July 21 (UPI) -- A Singaporean model has been sentenced to six strokes of a rattan cane for having a beer in public in a Malaysian nightclub.

A judge in a Syariah Court Monday also ordered Kartika Sari Sewi Shu-karno to pay a fine of more than $2,000, The New Straits Times reported Tuesday. The judge said she would receive a three-year prison term if she could not pay the fine.

"The court reached the judgment after the accused pleaded guilty," Judge Datuk Abdul Rahman Yunus said. "We feel the sentence is fair after going through the prosecution's argument and since the rotan (rattan cane) is provided for in the law. The rotan is aimed at making the accused repent and serves as a lesson to Muslims."

Kartika's lawyer plans to appeal the whipping. She was arrested by religious police last year when she had a beer in a nightclub in Cherating.

A waitress and man found together during the same raid were also sentenced to be whipped and to pay a similar fine.