Perikatan Nasional will stage a series of demonstrations to protest a family's legal challenge against provisions under Kelantan's syariah criminal enactment.
PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the protests will be held in Terengganu (Nov 16) and Kelantan (Nov 18), followed by a prayer gathering at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya on Nov 20.
In 2022, Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid and her daughter Tengku Yasmin Nastasha Tengku Abdul Rahman filed a constitutional challenge against 20 provisions under Kelantan's syariah criminal enactment which they argued were invalid.
They argued that these provisions, which include punishments for incest, words that break the peace, and defiling places of worship, are already covered by federal law.
As such, they said the power to legislate on these criminal matters is solely under the jurisdiction of Parliament.
The duo had filed the case directly with the Federal Court, which agreed to hear the constitutional challenge.
At a press conference in Parliament today, Tuan Ibrahim said PN had received a memorandum from "Gerakan Selamatkan Syariah" (Save Syariah Movement), which is made up of 300 civil society groups, on the matter.
"PN takes seriously this challenge against syariah courts, which began with the Iki Putra case before this," he added.
The case refers to a separate constitutional challenge by Iki Putra Mubarrak against a provision under the Selangor syariah criminal enactment which punishes "sexual intercourse against the order of nature".
In 2021, the Federal Court ruled the provision was invalid, as there was already a federal law criminalising unnatural sex, thus putting it under the sole purview of Parliament.
Meanwhile, Kota Bharu MP Takiyuddin Hassan said if Nik Elin’s case succeeds, similar enactments in all 14 states will also be invalidated.
He had previously asked in Parliament for Minister in the Prime Minister Department (Islamic Affairs) Mohd Na’im Mokhtar to intervene in the case.
‘Major implications’
Tuan Ibrahim said the implications of the case are major.
"If it happens (the challenge succeeds), it would erase a major part of syariah courts' authority.
"Islamic laws are part of faith, we can't compromise, it is a decree from Allah, and matters of faith include laws and system within Islamic jurisprudence," he stressed.
He added that it also involves the authority of the Malay rulers, citing Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah's concerns about the pressure faced by the syariah legal system.
Under the law, Islam and Islamic laws fall under the purview of the respective states, with the Malay rulers acting as the head of Islam for their states.
In the Nik Elin constitutional challenge, the syariah criminal provisions in Kelantan being challenged include those on - false claims; destroying or defiling places of worship; selling or giving away a child to non-Muslims or immoral Muslims; sodomy; sexual intercourse with a corpse; sexual intercourse with non-humans; words that can break the peace; sexual harassment; and possessing false documents, giving false evidence, information or statements.
Also being challenged are provisions on anything intoxicating; gambling; reducing scale, measurements and weight; transactions contrary to Islamic law; transactions via usury; abuse of halal label and connotation; offering or providing vice services; preparation to offer or provide vice service; acts of vice, incest and pimping. - Mkini
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