A customer in a Borders bookstore in Kuala Lumpur. – Reuters pic.Nik Raina Nik Abdul Aziz, the manager of Borders bookstore, has failed in her attempt to get the charge against her for distributing a 'banned' book by Canadian author Irshad Manji dropped.
Syariah judge Abdul Walid Abu Hassan dismissed the application after ruling that the civil High Court's judicial review decision in finding the charge groundless, should not be used to interfere in Syariah court proceedings.
He said Nik Raina has not been tried and it was up to the Syariah prosecutor to prove their case whether the book was against the Islamic law (Hukum Syarak).
The judge then stayed the trial pending appeal by the prosecutor in the judicial review.
Nik Raina, 36, was accused on June 19 last year of distributing Manji's Bahasa Malaysia translation of the book titled "Allah, Liberty and Love".
She was alleged to have committed the offence on May 23 last year at the Borders bookshop at Level 3, The Gardens Mall, in Mid Valley City.
On March this year, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur found the Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department (JAWI) to have acted illegally in raiding the bookstore and seizing the books.
The High Court also found that it had acted illegally in charging Nik Raina in the syariah court.
MORE TO COME.
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