Appeal deadline expires, now it’s up to chief judge

(NST) KUANTAN: Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno cannot file an appeal against a sentence of caning because the 14 days for her to do so expired on Aug 3.

State Religious Department (Jaip) chief prosecutor Datuk Abdul Rahim Jaafar said it was now up to Syariah Chief Judge Datuk Abdul Hamid Abdul Rahman, who is also the state Syariah Court of Appeal chief judge, to revise the decision of the Syariah High Court judge on July 20.

"Jaip will not make a new application or an appeal to change the decision as we don't have the authority," he said yesterday.

"At the same time, other parties cannot file an appeal on behalf of Kartika."

Kartika, 32, was fined RM5,000 and sentenced to six strokes of the rotan by the Syariah High Court here after she pleaded guilty to drinking beer at a hotel nightclub in Cherating in 2007.

The part-time model settled the fine but refused to make an appeal as she said she was ready to be caned.

Jaip obtained a warrant to detain Kartika at the Kajang women's prison for a week, starting from Monday, to enable the caning to be carried out.

However, it was postponed following advice from Hamid and the Attorney-General's Chambers.

Rahim also said it would have been better for the revision to have been made before the warrant to detain Kartika was issued on Aug 18.

"It could have helped avoid a lot of confusion and debate on the issue if it had been made earlier."

He added that many people had blamed Jaip when its officers could not bring Kartika to the prison on Monday.

On claims that the Prisons Department did not have the expertise to execute syariah caning, Rahim said it was not true as Jaip had already got the green light from the department for the whipping to be done at the Kajang women's prison.

"The department would have rejected our request if they did not have the expertise."