GEORGE TOWN, July 8 ― An Indonesian Christian convicted of khalwat at a Shariah Court here will seek to prove her religious status and apply to have her case dropped before she is tried for the second time in the Islamic court, her lawyer said.
Lawyer Wan Faridulhadi Mohamed Yusof said Halimah, 42, will file a representation to the Shariah chief prosecutor tomorrow.
“We will be filing the representation along with the documentations proving her religion to be Christian tomorrow to have the case against her withdrawn,” Wan Faridulhadi said.
The lawyer was speaking to reporters after a second panel of the Shariah Court of Appeal affirmed a previous panel’s decision calling for a retrial of Halimah’s case.
The three-member panel led by Tan Sri Ibrahim Lembut, reaffirmed in chambers a June 5 decision by another panel, led by Datuk Abdul Walid Abu Hassan, which struck out Halimah’s appeal against her khalwat conviction while ordering a retrial of the case.
“We will allow the decision by the earlier panel to stand and let the lower court fix a date for the retrial,” Ibrahim said.
In the case, Halimah charged and convicted for being in close proximity with a man not her husband or relative ― an offence under Islamic law and enforceable exclusively on Muslims.
Halimah was convicted of committing khalwat at a reflexology centre along Jalan Seang Teik at 11.40am on December 8, 2011.
The reflexologist, who was born a Christian and had never converted to Islam, had pleaded guilty to the charge before the Penang Shariah Court on May 15, 2012 due to confusion over the meaning of the offence as she was not represented at that time.
She was subsequently sentenced to jail for 14 months and fined RM3,000 but was allowed a stay of execution pending an appeal.
Wan Faridulhadi had submitted her appeal to the Penang Shariah High Court, which upheld the lower court’s decision. The case then went to the Shariah Court of Appeal.
He had submitted that Halimah is a Christian and therefore should not have been charged in the shariah court in the first place as it has no locus standi over non-Muslims.
The case had been pending in the Shariah Court of Appeal since March 18 when Wan Faridulhadi applied for leave to quash Halimah's conviction. The leave application was to be heard today before it was overtaken by the June 5 decision.
“There was some overlapping as today was fixed to hear the leave to quash her conviction but it is overtaken by the June 5 decision by another panel so today, we informed this panel of judges of the decision in chambers and ask that it be accepted,” he said.
He added that Ibrahim accepted the decision made by the panel under Abdul Walid and reaffirmed the decision.
He had made the application under Section 74 of Penang Islamic Religious Administration Enactment 2004, which states that the court has no jurisdiction over non-Muslims.
The documents submitted in its application for leave included her baptism certificate, a confirmation from the Indonesian Embassy that she's a Christian and also a family charter that showed all her family members are also Christians.
Indonesian Consul General Ronald P.Manik had also written to the Shariah Court of Appeal to request for updates on the progress of the case in April.
Manik emphasised that Halimah is a Catholic and does not fall under the Shariah court's jurisdiction.
In his letter, he requested that the case against her be reviewed and withdrawn.
The Shariah Court of Appeal replied to the consul general's letter on June 11 with a copy of the in-chambers decision to strike off the appeal and conviction with an order for a retrial.
