Shariah court jails Maria Chin for telling the truth about the Shariah courts

Faisal Nasimuddin is known for his arrogance while the Shariah courts are known for its gender discrimination

(FMT) – The shariah high court here today sentenced Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah to seven days in jail for contempt of court over her statement that “insulted” the Islamic judicial system.

Maria had, on Sept 5, 2019, issued a statement saying: “Muslim women are still being discriminated (against) under Malaysia’s shariah legal system.”

She had said the shariah court’s decision to sentence SM Faisal SM Nasimuddin’s former wife, Emilia Hanafi, to seven days in prison for rescheduling his visitation dates for her children was a “grave injustice” and a “total disgrace to the judicial system”.

She was not present in court as she has been admitted to hospital.

Her lawyer, Rosli Dahlan (pic), told the court she would be appealing the decision and urged the court to suspend the seven-day jail sentence.

Judge Fouzi Mokhtar allowed the stay of execution and ordered Maria’s legal team to file their appeal within 14 days from today.

In the court’s ruling today, Fouzi said Maria had failed to justify, through her defence on Feb 21, 2020, that her media statement did not scandalise the Islamic judicial system.

“She does not show any remorse and even blamed the system (for allegedly discriminating against women),” he added.

Fouzi said Maria came to a “simple” conclusion on Emilia and Faisal’s divorce case, without proof to back her up.

“Emilia’s case was not about alimony payment from (former husband) Faisal but about her violating the children’s visitation rights.

“The respondent (Maria) used an ‘irrelevant’ fact by pointing out that the social welfare department (JKM) did not take action against the father (Faisal) for not paying alimony,” he said.

Fouzi also said as an MP, tasked with debating and passing federal laws, Maria should not question the shariah courts in performing their duties.

“Her statement, made without checking the facts, was unfair and undermined the shariah courts,” he added.

Proceedings linked to shariah contempt case still pending before civil court, says lawyer

Earlier today, Rosli told the court that Maria had last year filed a judicial review before the civil High Court, seeking to quash the shariah court order that allowed Faisal to initiate contempt proceedings against her.

She claimed the order was made in bad faith.

“We urge the court to halt the decision today pending the judicial review outcome,” Rosli said.

However, Faisal’s lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah objected to the request to suspend the decision, saying that there was no stay order from the civil courts on the proceedings.

The High Court will only hear Maria’s bid to commence a legal challenge against the contempt order on May 26.