KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 ― Borders bookstore manager Nik Raina Nik Abdul Aziz expressed relief after the Federal Territories Islamic Department (JAWI) dropped its lawsuit against her over the sale of a book that had yet to be banned at the time, three years ago.
“Let this be the last time I enter the Shariah court because it’s not an easy feat for me… whenever I have to come, I always have mixed feeling; sad and nervous and everything else.
“I hope this will be the last time I come to the Shariah Court over this case,” she told reporters outside the court.
Earlier, a three-member bench at the Federal Territory Shariah Court of Appeal allowed an application by JAWI to withdraw the lawsuit it brought against Nik Raina.
The judging panel led by Datuk Seri Dr Md Yusup Che Teh unanimously agreed to have the case retracted, as requested by JAWI through an application filed on March 9 this year.
“With this, we allow the application and this case is now dropped,” Md Yusup read in his brief ruling
Federal Territory Chief Sharie Prosecutor Mohammad Adib Husain represented JAWI today.
In 2012, JAWI arrested Nik Raina well before Irshad Manji’s “Allah, Kebebasan dan Cinta” book was banned, later charging her with illegally selling the Malay translation that the Islamic authority considered to be against Shariah laws.
Nik Raina was charged under Section 13 (1) of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territory) Act, and could have landed in jail for up to two years or be fined RM3,000 if convicted.
Earlier this year, the Shariah High Court discharged Nik Raina, though it did not acquit it of the offence, prompting JAWI to file for appeal.
Freed from the fear of continued prosecution at the Shariah Court, Nik Raina however has one last legal battle at the Federal Court—the highest court in the civil legal system.
Last December, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Nik Raina, stating that JAWI’s prosecution against her simply because she was a Muslim and because it could not charge the company and her non-Muslim supervisor was “unreasonable, irrational” and against the “principle of fairness and justice”.
Despite the Kuala Lumpur High Court and Court of Appeal ruling in Nik Raina’s favour in her judicial review challenging JAWI’s actions, the Islamic department and two ministers had filed for leave to appeal at the Federal Court.
On August 25, the Federal Court is due to hear arguments from both sides before it decides if JAWI can go on with its appeal.
Malaysia’s dual-track civil and Shariah legal systems that sometimes overlap have resulted in some questionable court decisions that have triggered concerns of creeping Islamisation in the bureaucracy.
