GEORGE TOWN, March 6 — Umno-linked lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah will be investigated by Penang’s religious authorities for allegedly committing “qazaf” last month when he spoke about Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s alleged sodomy acts, a state executive councillor confirmed.

Penang Religious Affairs Committee Chairman Datuk Abdul Malik Abul Kassim said he has ordered the state Islamic Religious Department (JAIPP) to commence the probe on Shafee, who had acted as public prosecutor under fiat during Anwar’s Sodomy II trial.

Abdul Malik confirmed that JAIPP received four reports today against Shafee from members of a political party and a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

“Shafee will be investigated under Section 41 of the Penang Shariah Criminal Offences Enactment 1996 for qazaf,” he said.

Under the section, anyone who accuses another individual of illicit relations without producing four male witnesses is deemed to have committed an offence, and faces a maximum jail term of three years, or a fine of up to RM5,000, or both.

Abdul Malik said the reports lodged were based on Shafee’s open dialogue held at the Politeknik Seberang Perai here on February 21, where he reportedly detailed the purported sodomy act between Anwar and his Sodomy II accuser Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Yesterday, National Association of Muslim Students in Malaysia (PKPIM) secretary-general Khairul Anuar Manap filed a similar “qazaf” report against Shafee at the Selangor Islamic Religious Department’s (JAIS) office in Shah Alam.

Prior to his dialogue session in Penang, Shafee told a forum in Shah Alam that Anwar is a “closet homosexual” and as such, poses a threat to national security, when explaining the Federal Court’s decision to jail the opposition leader for five years for sodomising his former aide, Saiful.

Shafee had also shared in detail Saiful’s testimony on how Anwar had sodomised him in 2009.

A week after the forum, independent Muslim preacher Wan Ji Wan Hussin and Ahmad Auzaie Arshad both accused Shafee of committing “qazaf” for publicly accusing Anwar of having committed homosexual acts without providing four witnesses as demanded by the Syariah Criminal Enactment (Selangor) 1995.

Minister Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom responded by claiming that “qazaf” or bearing false witness only applies to heterosexual illicit relations and not sodomy.

Under Section 36 of the Selangor enactment, a Muslim guilty of “qazaf” can be fined not more than RM5,000, jailed no more than three years, or both.

Selangor’s enactment provides separate sections for Shariah offences involving “zina”, including incest, prostitution and sex out of wedlock, all covering heterosexual relations.

Sodomy and sex against nature are covered in two other different sections, with the latter covering both heterosexual and homosexual relations.