Religious authorities today freed a Muslim woman who had been sentenced to be caned for drinking beer, although she refused to leave a van taking her to jail when returned to her home.

And her father said the change of mind would ridicule Islam, which bans Muslims from consuming alcohol.

NONE "The warrant cannot be executed," Sharafuddin Zainal Ariffin, head of enforcement for the state of Pahang's Islamic Affairs Department, told reporters after Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, was returned to her house.

Meanwhile Pahang's Religious Affairs, Dakwah, Unity and NGOs Exco chairperson Mohd Sahfri Abdul Aziz was quoted in the media as saying that the caning will be carried out after the fasting month.

He said that the state religious department had received a letter from the Attorney-General's Chambers advising them to release Kartika temporarily as "it was not advisable for her to undergo the punishment during the fasting month".

"The sentence remains. She will be caned after the fasting month. She has been released but only temporarily," he said.

But a senior government official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity suggested the reprieve could be a step towards burying the whole affair.

"Leave it to the syariah court, they know how to decide. The court has the power to revise the sentence and there are also laws that allow the sultan to pardon her," the top official said.

Kartika, a Malaysian who has two children and who had worked as a nurse in Singapore, and her father had previously called for the sentence to be carried out quickly and in public.

Give a proper document

Kartika was to have been taken to another state to be caned some time this week.

"I will not come out without a black and white document explaining the status of what has happened. I am surprised and speechless," Kartika told reporters today.

Her father said the change of mind would bring "ridicule" on Islam. "We had already accepted the punishment," Shukarnor Mutalib, told reporters.

Kartika had then lodged a police report at Kuala Kangsar district police headquarters at 12.30pm on the "confusion" over her sentencing, stating that she had not run away from the sentence.

Her case has caused a national sensation, and at her family's village more than 50 supporters turned out and chanted "God is Great" and "There is no God except Allah."

NONE "I have known Kartika since she was a small girl," said one 64-year-old villager, Wan Alawiah.

"She is a good girl and I'm sad she will be caned but I ask myself why Kartika is being caned when a lot of other Muslims drink. I feel she has been victimised," she said.

Kartika, 32, was sentenced on July 18 to a fine of RM5,000 and six whippings for consuming alcohol at a hotel in Cherating last year.

She has to surrender herself to the authorities at Kajang Women's Prison today to receive the six lashes as the prison rules say that only someone who is a prisoner can be whipped.

Islamic scholars have mostly backed the sentence, and said it would be carried out when Kartika was fully clothed and with a cane that is smaller and lighter than the heavy length of rattan used in criminal cases.

Bar wants sentence overturned

In another development, Bar Council chairperson Ragunath Kesavan urged the authorities to overturn the sentence of whipping handed down in Kartika's case.

He also noted that under Malaysian civil law, the whipping of women was prohibited.

In Kartika's specific case, he added, there were additional compelling reasons to overturn the sentence.

"There was serious doubt over the legality and propriety of the Kuantan Syariah High Court's imposition of a supplementary sentence of imprisonment simply for the punishment of whipping to be carried out," he said in a statement.

- Reuters/AFP