KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 — City police gave an assurance today they will investigate a death threat by an Islamic State (IS) sympathiser against Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin, spokesman for Islamic law reform pressure group G25.

Noor Farida has received a number of death and sexual threats for her group’s suggestions to review Islamic laws governing khalwat (close proximity) on the argument that it is a violation of privacy, which the creed respects.

The latest death threat was issued December 11 by a Facebook user who goes by the name   Al Mujahid Arman who commented on an online community thread called “Bongkar Ajaran Sesat” (Expose Deviant Teachings) that it was now “permissible to shed her blood”.

“Of course… because of the death threat,” Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Tajuddin Md Isa told Malay Mail Online in a one-line text message on Whatsapp today when contacted.

He did not elaborate on when the police will start investigations or which law they will use.

Malaysian authorities have become more vigilant in the war on terror after a worrying number of Muslim citizens are seen to be sympathetic to the IS cause, with a recent study by US-based think tank putting the figure at 11 per cent of the population, topping neighbouring Indonesia which has the world’s biggest Muslim population.

Perak police are also on the hunt for another Facebook user who had threatened rape on Noor Farida, The Malaysian Insider news portal reported earlier today.

The report cited Perak Criminal Investigation Department chief Datuk Goh Kok Liang as reported saying the case was being investigated under Section 507 of the Penal Code for criminal intimidation and Section 233 of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Act for the intent to harass or threaten anyone via online means.

At a recent forum titled “Islam in a Constitutional Democracy”, Noor Farida said the group was setting up a consultative committee to review and to recommend for repeal or amendment unconstitutional state Shariah enactments and laws that violate personal privacy, such as khalwat.

The group has come under fire from some conservative Muslims, including the Perak mufti and Islamic adviser to the prime minister; the latter warned G25 they may face the same fate as Al-Arqam, a Muslim sect that was banned for deviancy in the 1990s.