False Islamic doctrines: Ibu Yati, two individuals claim trial

 

Three individuals, including a former journalist, well-known as Ibu Yati, pleaded not guilty in the Selangor Syariah High Court to expounding religious doctrines contrary to Islamic law and spreading them through Facebook between December last year until February this year.

The accused, Wan Norhayati Wan Alias, 42, Noorafiza Ahmad, 46 and Abdul Hamid Yeop Zainuddin, 60, entered the plea after the charges were read out separately to them before judge Mohammad Khalid Shaee@Shaii yesterday.

Wan Norhayati was charged with three counts and Noorafiza, one count, under Section 7 of the Syariah Criminal Enactment (Selangor) 1995, namely, teaching or expounding any Islamic religious doctrine, ceremony or act contrary to Islamic law.

Abdul Hamid faced two charges under the same section and another under Section 9 of the Syariah Criminal Enactment (Selangor) 1995 for deriding the verses of the Quran.

Section 7 of the enactment provides a jail term of up to three years or a fine not exceeding RM5,000 or six strokes of the cane or all three if convicted while under Section 9 any person guilty of the offence could be fined RM5,000 or jailed up to three years or both.

Wan Norhayati and Noorafiza were charged with committing the offences from Dec 2 last year until Feb 2, using their respective Facebook accounts, while Abdul Hamid was alleged to have committed the offences at about 9pm on Feb 2 at Taman Dato Razali, Kampung Melayu Ampang.

Syarie chief prosecutor Zainor Rashid Hassim conducted the prosecution while lawyer Wan Amir Akram Zainal Abidin represented the three accused.

The court fixed a bail of RM11,000 for Wan Norhayati, RM5,000 for Noorafiza and RM9,000 for Abdul Hamid in two sureties each and they were ordered to report to the nearest District Islamic Religious Department and barred from uploading any status on social media.

The court fixed Nov 2 for re-mention of Wan Norhayati and Noorafiza’s cases and Jan 18 next year for re-mention of Abdul Hamid’s case.

- Bernama