KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 — Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir has been challenged by an Islamist activist to censure her fellow Sisters in Islam (SIS) members for their involvement in a human rights coalition said to be spreading “liberalism” and threatening Islam’s position in the country.

Dr Muhammad Hasbullah from Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) claimed the legal action threat by Marina against his organisation showed she was troubled to be named as one of the “masterminds” behind the Coalition of Malaysian NGOs in the Universal Periodic Review Process (Comango).

“It would be more convincing if she slams those in SIS who are involved in the coalition. But no, she did not. If she is so angry to be related to the coalition, she should be angry that her group is involved in it too,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Muhammad claimed that just by being a board member of SIS, is “evidence enough” that Marina was involved with Comango, and rejected her argument that she was isolated from the action of her “subordinates”.

“If you are not happy about it, tell the media. Tell your underlings to stop this nonsense. We cannot read your mind. State your stand,” he said.

On Friday, Isma distributed 70,000 leaflets at mosques throughout the country after Friday prayers that slammed Comango for calling for the freedom to renounce Islam; the protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) rights; the removal of Malay privileges; the freedom to embrace Syiah teachings; and the right for Catholics to refer to God as “Allah”, among others.

Marina, the eldest daughter of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was featured alongside prominent lawyer and co-chairman of election reform group Bersih Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, among other vocal civil rights advocates in the leaflet.

The Islamist activist group also named several non-government organisations including SIS as supporting Comango.

A prominent civil rights activist in her own right, Marina had described Isma’s allegation that she was one of the masterminds behind Comango as “wholly untrue”.

She demanded Isma to rescind its “defamatory” allegation linking her to Comango — which it called “anti-Islam” — or face legal action over the claim.

“Although I am a Board member of Sisters in Islam, one of the NGOs in the coalition, I was not involved in any way in the Comango process.

“Therefore I view this allegation by Isma as defamatory and demand that Isma and its office bearers withdraw it immediately with a public clarification in all media, including social media, on my terms. Failure to do so will result in my taking legal action against them,” Marina wrote in a brief statement in reply to The Malay Mail Online’s query.

Isma has been at the forefront of attempts to discredit Comango, which has also come under fire from other Muslim activists here who claim the group’s human rights recommendations to the United Nations ran counter to the “true” teachings of Islam and the sovereignty of the Federal Constitution.

Isma, which has since signed on with a coalition of Muslim NGOs called MuslimUPRo, also accused Comango of attempting to spread “liberalism teachings” backed by Western powers.