Hadi reminded of his former deputy's DNAA

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has been accused of misleading claims on whether a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) was unIslamic.

In a statement today, former lawmaker Faiz Fadzil said Hadi was silent about the matter when the courts granted a DNAA to former PAS deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa back in 2020.

"Perhaps at the time, Hadi's 'holy book' (on the matter) had yet to exist," said Faiz (above), who coincidentally secured a DNAA a week ago for a charge framed under Section 354 of the Penal Code for using criminal force on a person with the intent to outrage their modesty.

Nasharudin Mat Isa

Yesterday, Hadi attacked Putrajaya in Parliament over the prosecutors' decision to withdraw charges against Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Hadi claimed that there was "no DNAA in Islam".

Faiz said this was not true as even Section 103(1) of the Syariah Criminal Code Enactment (Terengganu) 2001 has elements of DNAA.

Faiz, who is also a lawyer, said this law allowed the prosecution to seek a suspension of court proceedings if the prosecution believed that there were grounds to do so.

The law was enacted when Hadi was the Terengganu menteri besar, said Faiz.

He added that it was documented that Prophet Muhammad once ordered a woman who admitted to adultery to be punished only after giving birth and nursing her child.

"Is that the same as DNAA in this context? Prosecutors have withdrawn a charge after considering that there is not enough evidence or that further investigations must be conducted.

"Doesn't Islam have the concept that it is better to free 10 guilty persons than punish one innocent person?" asked Faiz.

In view of this, he urged PAS not to abuse religion for political expediency because it can confuse the public.

Zulqarnain Lukman

Meanwhile, Amanah's legal bureau chairperson Zulqarnain Lukman refuted Hadi's statement, citing the Syariah Criminal Procedure (Terengganu) Enactment 2001, which also contains provisions related to DNAA, specifically in Section 103.

"This section is almost similar to Section 254 of the Penal Code used by the civil prosecution," he said on Facebook yesterday.

Furthermore, Zulqarnain pointed out that the Terengganu syariah enactment was enacted when Hadi himself was the menteri besar of the state.

Therefore, he questioned Hadi's decision to allow the enactment to be passed "right under his nose" if it was not in accordance with Islam.

"The process of drafting enactments usually involves technical committees. In the context of Terengganu, the mufti and the chief syariah judge would certainly have been involved.

"In this case, Hadi should retract his statement that DNAA is not in Islam," he said.