'Islamic' to grant Najib royal pardon, Hadi's son-in-law says

 

It is best to accord a royal pardon to former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, a PAS leader said.

According to the Subang PAS chief Zaharuddin Muhammad, this is because Najib's trial did not take place according to "Islamic guidelines”.

Subang PAS chief Zaharuddin Muhammad

Taking to social media, the son-in-law of PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said the first reason Najib should be released is due to the alleged conflict of interest that arose from Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali presiding over the SRC International case.

"As per Islamic law, a judge in a case like this should be someone agreed to by both parties involved - the prosecution and defence.

"The judge has previously rejected new evidence brought up by Najib's team. In Islamic law, judges do not have the power to reject evidence brought up by the contending parties," he said in a two-minute video posted on his TikTok channel.

Commenting further, Zaharuddin said that justice "needs to be returned" by separating the judiciary and the executive, a new judge agreed to by both parties appointed to the case instead of someone appointed on the "PM's advice."

"Between keeping Najib in prison and releasing him on pardon, the latter is more Islamic," he added.

Last August, Najib was jailed for 12 years and fined RM210 million after being convicted of charges of abuse of power, money laundering, and criminal breach of trust over SRC International funds amounting to RM42 million.

On March 31, the five-judge panel of the Federal Court, in a 4-1 majority decision, rejected Najib's application to review his conviction.

It was recently reported that the Pardons Board did not discuss the application filed by Najib.

According to the report, the pardon petition involving Najib was not presented by the legal affairs division of the Prime Minister's Department, as well as the board’s secretariat.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has since urged all quarters to stop making inappropriate comments on the party’s bid to seek a pardon for Najib. - Mkini