KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A MALAYSIAN religious court appeals panel on Monday upheld a caning sentence for a woman who drank beer, state news agency Bernama reported.

The appeals panel in the state of Pahang, on the eastern coast of peninsular Malaysia, which is the home state of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, did not set a date for the sentence consisting of six strokes of the cane to be carried out, according to Bernama.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a 32-year old mother of two, will become the first woman to be caned under the country's religious laws that apply only to Muslims.

Kartika's case has drawn criticism from groups concerned about the rise of Shariah (Islamic) laws amid increasing Islamisation of the country's majority Malay-Muslims, who make up 55 per cent of the Southeast Asian country's 27 million population.

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