Courts lodge report against shoe-hurling imam

February 24, 2012

A journalist throws his shoe at India’s Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram during a news conference in New Delhi April 7, 2009. — Reuters pic

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 24 — A police report was lodged today against an irate imam who hurled his shoes at a panel of three judges after they threw out his case on Wednesday, according to Bernama Online.

The report was filed by Jumirah Marjuki, a deputy registrar with the Federal Court, on behalf of the Judiciary of Malaysia

“This office refutes all the allegation made by the imam, by the name of Tuan Haji Hoslan Haji Hussin, including his allegation that he has been denied the right to be heard fairly,” read a statement by the communications unit of the apex court, which accompanied the report.

The Malaysian Insider reported on Wednesday that Hoslan had aimed his shoes at three senior judges in the country’s highest court after they struck out his bid to challenge an eviction order from a Kuala Lumpur mosque here four years ago.

He stunned the judges, lawyers and members of the public that packed a courtroom at the Federal Court when he stood up, took off both his shoes and aimed the pair directly at the Bench.

The three-man bench including Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin, Datuk Suriyadi Halim Omar and Datin Paduka Zaleha Zahari had then unexpectedly allowed the incident to go unpunished.

“Ya. I did it. I chucked my shoes at the judges,” the father of 11 admitted to The Malaysian Insider when contacted on Wednesday.

Hoslan, who was formerly an imam at the Al-Rahimah Mosque in Kampung Pandan here, said he did it because he felt sorely vexed with the judges who took less than half-an-hour to dismiss his case.

“The courts have failed to uphold justice,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

He added that he left the courtroom barefoot as he was still too emotional to recover his shoes.