SHAH ALAM, July 28 — Three individuals including a former journalist, well-known as Ibu Yati, pleaded not guilty in the Selangor Syariah High Court today, 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, 42, Noorafiza Ahmad, 46 and Abdul Hamid Yeop Zainnuddin, 60, entered the plea after the charges were read out separately to them before Syarie Judge Mohammad Khalid Shaee@Shaii.
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 December 2 last year until February 2, using their respective Facebook accounts, while, Abdul Hamid was alleged to have committed the offences at about 9pm on February 2 at Taman Dato Razali, Kampung Melayu Ampang near here.
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 November 2 for re-mention of Wan Norhayati and Noorafiza’s cases and Jan 18, 2022, for re-mention of Abdul Hamid’s case.
— Bernama
