Maria Chin Abdullah can only intervene after the Syariah High Court has granted leave to Naza Group chairperson SM Faisal SM Nasimuddin to proceed with his contempt proceedings against the Petaling Jaya MP, his lawyer said today.
SM Faisal's counsel Akberdin Abdul Kader said his client's application for leave was done ex parte (Latin legal maxim meaning a proceeding done without the presence of Maria or her lawyer) as it is procedurally sound under law.
"Procedurally, Maria cannot intervene until the Shariah High Court grants leave to the applicant (SM Faisal) to cite her for contempt, in which leave was granted today. That is the reason why the leave application was done ex parte.
"As leave has been granted, now we begin to serve all the contempt papers on Maria.
"Only after that can she join the proceedings and show cause why she cannot be cited for contempt and punished," Akberdin told Malaysiakini.
When asked whether Maria or her counsel attended today's Kuala Lumpur Syariah High Court proceedings where leave was granted to Faisal to proceed with committal proceedings against her, he said they had not.
Akberdin was responding to Malaysiakini’s report that Maria was seeking to nullify Faisal’s bid to cite her for contempt on grounds, among others, that she was never informed about the application for leave to commence committal proceedings against her, among others.
Malaysiakini is still attempting to seek comment from Maria over the matter.
Online portal FMT reported today that the Kuala Lumpur Syariah High Court granted leave to Faisal to commence with committal proceedings against Maria in relation to her alleged statement relating to the court's seven-day custodial sentence against Faisal's ex-wife, Emilia Hanafi.
Syariah High Court judge Mohamed Fouzi Mokhtar reportedly said that Maria’s statement had brought down the reputation of the Islamic religious court, in his ruling that greenlighted the businessperson’s ex-parte application to proceed with committal proceedings against Maria.
“Her statement was scandalous and contemptuous. This has affected the integrity of the syariah court,” Fouzi reportedly said, adding that he fixed Dec 2 for her to attend the syariah court and show cause why she should not be cited for contempt.
On Sept 5, FMT reported that Faisal had instructed Akberdin to initiate contempt proceedings against Maria after she criticised the syariah court for imposing the seven-day jail sentence on Emilia.
The lawyer reportedly said that Maria’s comments displayed an ignorance about the facts of the case, and that his client felt that the MP had "insulted the syariah court".
“She did not even consult the other side before making such a strong statement,” said Akberdin (photo), who added that as a lawmaker, Maria had to be fair to both sides and respect the law.
Earlier on Sept 4, the Kuala Lumpur Syariah Court meted out the custodial sentence against Emilia for rescheduling visitation dates for her children to be with their father.
It was reported that she is currently out on RM5,000 bail pending appeal.
The ruling purportedly prompted criticism from Maria who allegedly said that Muslim women were still being discriminated against under the syariah legal system.
She had purportedly issued a press statement titled “Emilia Faisal Hanifi’s sentencing proves injustice against Muslim women still exists in the legal system” on Sept 5.
Faisal and Emilia divorced in 2016, and the latter was granted full custody of their three children, Fawwaz, Faiz and Farhan.
Akberdin alleged that even though Faisal was granted visitation rights in July last year, he was not allowed to take their children out of Emilia's house.
“He was supposed to be able to take the children on Friday and return them on Sunday. But he was never allowed to do this, not once, not even for overnight stays, let alone a few hours during the day," the lawyer said.
He added that the jail sentence showed that the court was serious about the need for consensus when it comes to a court order.
Emilia has denied Faisal's allegations over the visitation rights. - Mkini
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