Federal Court to answer crucial question on apostasy tomorrow

The Federal Court in Kuching is expected to make a crucial ruling tomorrow on whether the Sarawak Syariah Court has jurisdiction over apostasy matters.

Earlier today, the court heard submissions from lawyers on whether the Sarawak Syariah Court possessed such powers when not expressly stated in the Syariah Court Ordinance 2001.

The question was raised by four Sarawakians seeking a court order to nullify their status as Muslims, and compel the National Registration Department to recognise them as Christians.

Baru Bian (photo), representing the quartet, said that the Sarawak Syariah Court "(was) not clothed with that power to decide on apostasy cases" by virtue of the Syariah Court Ordinance 2001.

Baru explained that should it be affirmed that the Sarawak Syariah Court has no such powers, then the matter will be reverted back to the High Court.

"If the Federal Court answers the legal question in the affirmative, the appeal would be dismissed, and the appellants have to go back to the Syariah Court to make their application to apostate out of Islam," Baru was quoted as saying in Borneo Post.

The saga began in January 2015, when the High Court refused to grant Syarifah Nooraffyzza Wan Hosen leave to initiate a case to nullify the status of her religion.

At the time, the court ruled against the plaintiff, based on rulings from four previous cases.

Following this, three Muslim converts – Tiong Choo Ting @ Mohd Syafiq Abdullah, Salina Jau @ Salina Jau Abdullah, and Jenny Peter @ Nur Muzdhalifah Abdullah – faced the same ruling in September that year.

The Court of Appeal had reaffirmed the High Court's decision in the case brought by the three converts in 2017.

Following this, the four jointly sought the Federal Court's interpretation on the Syariah Court Ordinance 2001.

The four plaintiffs had named Sarawak State Islamic Department director, Sarawak Islamic Council, NRD director-general and state government as respondents.

The five-men Federal Court bench comprised Court of Appeal president Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Ahmad Maarop and Justices Hasan Lah, Jeffrey Tan and Ramly Ali.

Deputy state attorney-general Saferi Ali and legal officer Hisyamudin Roslan appeared for the first two respondents, while senior federal counsels Shamsul Bolhassan and Leo Saga appeared for NRD.- Mkini