PUTRAJAYA, Dec 30 — Fresh from her victory in the Court of Appeal today, a Muslim manager of a bookstore chain pleaded with the Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department (JAWI) to drop a Shariah charge against her for merely performing her work.
Borders Bookstore's Nik Raina Nik Abdul Aziz thanked the civil court's judges for their ruling that she called "good for future reference" of all Malaysians, especially Muslims working in bookstores.
She also urged JAWI to weigh what it hoped to gain from continuing to pursue the case against her.
“I hope it's going to end soon because it doesn't benefit everyone, especially Muslims who really want to work in bookstores.
"We need support in terms of this. I understand what they are trying to stand for but in the end, I know that I'm not doing anything wrong," the manager of Borders' The Gardens bookstore branch told reporters here.
Earlier today, the Court of Appeal ruled that the prosecution against Nik Raina was "unreasonable, irrational" and done in bad faith.
The appellate court said it is against the "principle of fairness and justice" for JAWI to charge Nik Raina for an offence in the Shariah court simply because she was a Muslim and because it could not charge the company and her non-Muslim supervisor.
"In a multiracial and multireligious country like Malaysia, it is imperative that law enforcement agencies, like the [JAWI], be sensitive to the ramification of its actions lest it may lead to an unwelcomed perception that to employ any Muslims within any organisation in Malaysia would invite unwarranted adverse enforcement by the likes of [JAWI]," Justice Datuk Mah Weng Kwai said when reading out the three-men panel's unanimous decision.
Yau Su Peng, Borders' chief operating officer, declared today's ruling a triumph for the Federal Constitution.
"Today, I believe finally justice has prevailed and today is a win for the supremacy of the Constitution," she told reporters here in an immediate reaction.
Yau similarly asked JAWI to stop prosecuting Nik Raina — who is in her seventh year as an employee of Borders — and free her from her 31 months of "ordeal".
"We now hope that JAWI and the [chief Syarie prosecutor] will abide by the decision of the Court of Appeal and find the compassion to immediately drop the charges against Nik Raina in the Shariah court," Yau said.
"Court processes and administrative action apart, and government agency actions aside, we need to remember we are still human beings at the end of this. And this human being has endured intense public scrutiny and intense questioning about her religious faith while continuing to hold down her job, to work," she added, referring to Nik Raina.
Despite winning a legal challenge against JAWI and two others at the civil High Court last March, the Shariah charge is still hanging over Nik Raina's head as the Shariah court decided to maintain the case until today's decision.
In May 2012, Nik Raina was arrested by JAWI a week after it suddenly raided the bookstore she was working in and seized copies of Canadian author Irshad Manji’s book, "Allah, Liberty and Love" that was only officially banned three weeks later. There was no fatwa (religious edict) issued against the book.
She was later charged in the Federal Territory Shariah High Court on June 19, 2012 for allegedly distributing and selling a book that was against Islamic laws.
If convicted under Section 13 (1) of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territory) Act, Nik Raina will be liable to a maximum fine of RM3,000, a maximum two years’ jail term or both.
Earlier today, Mah had pointed out that JAWI's prosecution offended the "sense of fair play and justice" as there was no ban or fatwa then to alert the public that the book was unlawful.
"After all, it is basic criminal jurisprudence that one cannot be charged with an offence unless there is a rule or law prohibiting the conduct complained of," the judge said, also saying it was unconstitutional to impose punishment retrospectively.
