Jawi admits to acting on Borders without fatwa issued

The Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department (Jawi) has admitted that it took action on Border's and its store manager Nik Raina Nik Abdul Aziz despite there being no fatwa (religious edict) issued against the book Allah, Liberty and Love by Canadian writer Irshad Manji.

This admission is contained in Jawi's affidavit that was sent on Merdeka Eve, the lawyer for Border's book chain operator Berjaya Books Sdn Bhd, Rosli Dahlan, Nik Raina and Berjaya Book's assistant general manager (operations and merchandising) Stephen Fung said today.

Rosli (right) said this outside the Kuala Lumpur High Court after the Border's case came up for judicial review hearing today before Justice Rohana Yusof.

However, the senior federal counsel who appeared for Jawi, the home minister and the minister in the Prime Minister's Department, sought more time to file the affidavit from the home minister.

Rosli said they had filed the affidavits and required documents with the court in June and by right the respondents should have filed their documents within 14 days after that.

"Now, they have asked for an extension of time to file in an affidavit from the home minister,' he said.

"Following this, the court has now fixed Oct 4 for case management and Oct 22 for the hearing to begin before Justice Rohana," said Rosli.

This was confirmed by senior federal counsel Effendi Nazila Daud, who also admitted that they need more time for the home minister to file the affidavit.

[More to follow]