KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 — The case for enforcing Islamic penal law in Malaysia may soon resume as there is no longer any legal impediment to PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang tabling his private member’s Bill on hudud in Parliament.
Lawyer Farez Jinnah confirmed that his clients—Mansoor Saat, Azira Aziz, Hasbeemasputra Abu Bakar and Hazwany Jamaluddin who lost their court bid on Monday to stop Hadi from pushing the hudud Bill in the Dewan Rakyat—will not appeal the decision.
He has also not received any instruction from his clients on whether or not to refile their case in court.
“Clients are not appealing, so we can close the book on that chapter,” Farez told Malay Mail Online yesterday.
On Monday, the High Court here struck out the lawsuit filed by the four who had wanted to block Hadi from tabling any Private Member’s Bill on hudud, a controversial Islamic penal code that imposes harsh punishments like the amputation of limbs and death by stoning for theft and adultery.
According to Hadi’s lawyer, Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan, Justice Datuk Asmabi Mohamad, who had delivered her decision in chambers, ruled that the four who had sued Hadi should have filed for a judicial review instead of using an originating summons.
The judge also reportedly said Hadi’s past action — in pushing a parliamentary motion for the amendment of the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355) to increase the powers of the Shariah courts so that harsher hudud penalties can be enforced — was done in line with rules.
Hadi submitted a private member’s Bill earlier this year to amend Act 355, but was unable to have it debated in Parliament during the last two sittings ostensibly due to a lack of time.
PAS has yet to submit a fresh private member’s Bill in the current Parliament sitting.
Takiyuddin, who is also the Islamist party’s secretary-general, said last month that such Bills cannot be tabled pending the lawsuit.
To implement hudud in Kelantan, PAS is seeking to amend Act 355 that currently only allows the Shariah courts to mete out punishments limited to RM3,000 fines, five years’ jail and six strokes of caning.
