The 'Kartika Sari' matter

Religious Judgments pronounced in the public domain fall into a hopeless rubik and this one is no different.

She will not be punished because her conviction was given under a code whose scales balance between Shame and Honor. Simply said, international ridicule amplifies her Shame and when multiplied by the Ummah, it bears ultimately upon the Prophet.

Consider the female journalist from Sudan who was in a similar predicament recently. Her punishment was deferred. She was freed two months ago. Her colleagues, similarly charged, were flogged under stealth before their matters became public but in the case of the journalist, her position caused intense media attention. The ensuing ridicule of the pronouncement is the sole reason her sentence was set aside. Incidentally, she and her colleagues were charged for wearing trousers at a private party.

Consider the female journalist from Saudi Arabia. The King waived her flogging sentence last month. She was saved 60 lashes simply because international outrage shamed the judiciary in the very seat of Islam. The journalist was charged for featuring a male in a talk show who, according to authorities, publicly expounded views not in accordance with the doctrine.

Consider a rape victim from the same country. Two years ago, the King waived a flogging sentence of 90 lashes given against a young woman who was raped. Her crime, oddly enough, was to be in the company of a male when she was violated. In both cases, the King intervened only when the matters raised international ire.

Consider the teenager in Iran sentenced to hang three years ago for killing one of several men in self-defense who attempted to rape herself and her niece. When the news broke, a public petition was launched to save her that laid the machinations of the Iranian judiciary bare. It is learnt that her case is being reviewed and the judiciary has deferred her sentence.

The Malaysian case of Kartika Sari Dewi, sentenced to flogging for having her tipple, share similar underpinnings. The authorities will offer reasons in other verbiage, such as compassion, her inclination to penance and so forth, but media scrutiny is the reason the matter is moving towards its logical conclusion.

Words - Tommy Peters