Shariah conviction: Khalid wants EC’s official stand

Khalid Samad says it will be good to know the Election Commission’s stand on his political future.

PETALING JAYA: Khalid Samad has urged the Election Commission (EC) to take an official stand on the impact his shariah court conviction would have on his career as Shah Alam MP.

Khalid was fined RM2,900 in lieu of three months’ jail last week by the lower shariah court for giving a religious talk without credentials. He paid the fine.

“The civil court will finally decide but an official stand by the EC could start the ball rolling,” he said on WhatsApp.

Khalid said that for now, he would focus on his appeal to the Shariah High Court to set aside the conviction and sentence of the subordinate religious court.

Khalid was found guilty of delivering a talk at a surau in Taman Seri Sementa, Klang, without valid credentials in 2011, in contravention of Section 119 (1) of the Selangor Islamic Law Administration Enactment.

Khalid has insisted that he was invited to the surau to speak about his trip to Palestine and not to give a religious lecture.

Then the Selangor PAS deputy commissioner, Khalid said he had been invited to share his experience upon his return from Gaza.

Article 48 of the Constitution states that a MP is disqualified from duty if he is convicted of an offence by a “court of law” in the federation and sentenced to a jail term of not less than one year or a fine of not less than RM2,000.

Retired Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram has said that Khalid’s “criminal wrong” was not a penal offence, as passed by Parliament and executed through a civil court.

“The present court (the Selangor shariah lower court ) is also not a court of law established under Article 121 of the Constitution,” he told FMT.

He said article 48 has to be read harmoniously with Article 121.

Sri Ram said shariah courts established by the states could only punish Muslims for going against “the precepts of Islam”.

However, academician and constitutional law expert Prof Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi said the Constitution did not distinguish between the civil, criminal and shariah courts when it came to a conviction.

“Article 48 (1) (e) clearly states that an MP can be disqualified if he has been convicted of an offence by a court of law in the federation unless he has obtained a royal pardon,” he said.

Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia’s Centre for Shariah, Law and Politics fellow associate prof Dr Shamrahayu Abdul Aziz agreed.

He said the shariah court, though a state court, was within the federation.

EC chairman Mohd Hashim Abdullah has yet to respond to FMT’s query on Khalid’s eligibility to contest the upcoming general election. -FMT