Selangor Islamic council puts bar on Aziz Bari

Outspoken law professor Abdul Aziz Bari, who has been rided for allegedly being critical of the Selangor sultan, was this morning banned by Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) from speaking at a seminar at the Selangor International Islamic University College (Kuis).

Located in Kajang, Kuis is a higher education institution wholly owned by Mais, which comes under the purview of Selangor sultan.

According to Aziz, he was supposed to present a paper at the seminar this morning.

"But this morning I received a notice saying that someone in Mais, who claimed to be close with the Selangor palace, told the organisers to drop my paper.

"The organisers pleaded with them to retain me as scheduled as many people were coming to the seminar to listen to me... but I learnt they were told point blank that they have to obey the order," the Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) lecturer told Malaysiakini.

The seminar was planned more than three months ago, said Aziz, an expert in matters of constitutional law, who has also written extensively on the role of the monarch.

Aziz made headlines last month when police investigated him under the Sedition Act 1948 for comments he made on the Selangor sultan's decree on the state Islamic Affairs Department's 'inspection' of a multiracial thanksgiving dinner held in Damansara Utama on Aug 3.

Following this, the UIA suspended Aziz for six days. The suspension was lifted after a huge outcry from various bodies, including university students around the country and members of the academia.

[More to follow]