Publisher of ‘Allah, Kebebasan dan Cinta’ fails civil court challenge against Jais

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 — The High Court dismissed today a bid by local publisher Ezra Zaid and his company ZI Publications Sdn Bhd to challenge the Selangor Islamic Religious Department’s (Jais) confiscation of the Malay translation of Canadian Muslim author Irshad Manji’s book Allah, Kebebasan dan Cinta in 2012 and their subsequent prosecution.

Lawyer Fahri Azzat, who represented both ZI Publications and Ezra, said Jais and four others had filed a preliminary objection to his client’s suit before it could be heard on its merits.

The preliminary objection to the judicial review application by Ezra and ZI Publications by the five sued was on the basis that the Federal Court’s decision last September in a related matter was effectively a decision on the duo’s lawsuit.

“They said the High Court has no more jurisdiction to hear the matter because the Federal Court in deciding the constitutional question had essentially decided the matter as well,” he told Malay Mail Online when contacted.

“[The judge] then upheld the preliminary objection, she agreed with the contention that the Federal Court had decided on the matter and struck out the judicial review application with no order as to costs,” he told Malay Mail Online when contacted today.

When asked if an appeal will be filed against today’s decision by High Court judge Datuk Hanipah Farikullah, Fahri said the legal team will get instructions from the clients.

On July 9, 2012, ZI Publications and Ezra had filed for judicial review of Jais’s actions in seizing copies of the Malay translation of Canadian writer Irshad Manji’s Allah, Liberty and Love book, arrest and prosecution of Ezra.

The six respondents named in the lawsuit are Jais, Jais’s director-general, the Selangor chief religious enforcement officer, the Selangor chief syarie prosecutor, the Selangor government and the government of Malaysia.

Jais had on May 29, 2012 seized 180 copies of the Allah, Kebebasan dan Cinta book in a raid on ZI Publications’ office and arrested Ezra. The Home Ministry’s prohibition order banning both the original English version and the Bahasa Malaysia translation was only gazetted the same day.

ZI Publications and Ezra had previously already obtained leave from the Kuala Lumpur High Court for their challenge against Jais’s actions.

In the duo’s challenge, they sought a court order quashing Jais’s raid, seizure and arrest, as well as an order compelling the religious department to return the 180 copies seized.

Among other things, the company and Ezra also sought a declaration that the Selangor state law used by Jais in its raid — Section 16 Syariah Criminal Offences (Selangor) Enactment 1995 — was null and void as it contravenes the right to freedom of expression and speech and the right to equality and equal protection in law under the Federal Constitution’s Articles 10(1)(a) and 8(1).

As part of their bid to challenge Jais’s action, the duo had then applied to refer the constitutional challenge — on the competency of the Selangor government to enact Section 16 — directly to the Federal Court.

The Federal Court had last September 28 unanimously dismissed the attempt to nullify the Selangor law that makes it an offence for Muslims to publish books deemed unIslamic by the state religious authority.

In upholding Section 16 as a constitutional and valid law, the Federal Court had ruled that the Selangor legislative assembly had acted within its powers when making the law, noting that the Federal Constitution allows states to make laws on offences against the precepts of Islam. The apex court highlighted that Muslims in Malaysia are subject to both Parliament’s federal laws and state laws of a religious nature.

Possible Shariah trial?

Today, Fahri confirmed that Ezra may have to face a Shariah trial under Section 16 if no appeal is filed against the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision today.

“If he appeals, he has grounds to ask for a stay (of trial) in the Shariah Court,” he added.

Ezra’s Shariah case has yet to be heard and will come up for mention on September 8.

On March 7, 2013, Ezra was charged as ZI Publications’ director with three alternative counts under Section 16, which carries a penalty of a maximum RM3,000 fine or a maximum two-year jail term or both.

He had pleaded not guilty to all three charges, including the charge under Section 16 (1)(a) of publishing Allah, Kebebasan dan Cinta and an alternative charge under the same section for distributing the same book to bookshop Silverfish Books Sdn Bhd and Faisal Mustaffa.

He had also claimed trial to the final alternative charge under Section 16(1)(b) over his alleged possession of 180 copies of the same book deemed by prosecutors to be against Islamic law.