(The Star) - The Malaysian Judiciary’s website was discovered hacked and defaced on Thursday night and its homepage substituted with a threat to not pursue the issue of the Catholic weekly the Herald’s use of the word “Allah.”

The hacker, using the handle “Brainwash,” defaced the site with a bright-red headline saying “TakeDown by Brainwash!” and what can only be described as “creative” use of the English language.

Blazed across the page in huge letters was “Mess with the best, die like the rest.”

The hacker also wrote: “Allah only restricted to Muslim only. Dont touch us as we dont touch you. Unless ....”

It was followed by a threatening postscript at the bottom of the page “To the court, Brain know you postponed it but if you wise enough then you should drop it.”

The hacker also posted a picture of a woman, bent over suggestively, apparently “washing” a brain.

Bar Council committee member Edmund Bon has labelled the act as “unwarranted and unacceptable.”

He said hacking and defacing websites was a criminal offence under the Computer Crimes Act 1997.

“The comments appear to put undue pressure on the judiciary to decide the case in a certain way and this should not be tolerated in a civil society.

“The Bar Council is all for allowing discussions and criticisms over court decisions so long as they are done in a civil manner. This threat intends to put pressure on the judiciary and it has overstepped the freedom of discussion boundaries,” he said when contacted.

The Herald website has also been hacked three times after the decision by High Court Justice Lau Bee Lan on allowing the word “Allah” to be used in the publication’s Malay-language edition.

Her decision has sparked anger and ire from various Muslim groups. Some groups have even threatened to stage gatherings on Friday to protest against the ruling.

The Home Ministry has appealed the decision and has been granted a stay of execution on Justice Lau’s ruling.

De facto law minister Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz could not be reached for comment as at press time.

EDITOR'S NOTE

We were also told that eight churches were attacked, one an attempted arson, but we are yet to get confirmation about the matter.