WORK to disinter the body of Cradle Fund CEO Nazrin Hassan has begun at the Kota Damansara Muslim cemetery this morning.

Police cordoned off the area leading to the graveyard and only the immediate family of the deceased were allowed in.

Family members and the widow Samira Muzaffar’s lawyers were at the site but they refused to speak to the media.

A hearse entered the cemetery about 9.20am followed by a police forensic van.

The exhumation is carried out after Nazrin’s brother lodged a police report of flaws in the first post mortem report conducted at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital.

Nazrin’s siblings have demanded that a second autopsy be conducted by an independent pathologist to find out the cause of Nazrin’s death after police classified the case as murder.

In a statement released last night, Samira’s lawyer said that while his client and her family fully supported the ongoing investigation into Nazrin’s death, it was pertinent to note that the exhumation of a body was a serious matter from the legal as well as Islamic point of view.

“Reference is made to the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam. As a qualified Advocate and Solicitor (presently not in practice), our client would like to ensure that any process to reopen a grave must be conducted in accordance with the rule of law, existing procedures and highest standards of ethics.

“Our client’s revision of the Petaling Jaya Magistrate Court’s order on October 1 to exhume her husband’s body for purposes of a second post mortem resulted in the High Court concurring that wrong provisions of law were presented to the magistrate.

“Our client believes that any error of law and wrong procedures in the exhumation process will not only impede the investigation into the death of her late husband but will cause serious miscarriage of justice to his rights as deceased person and the sanctity of his grave,” the lawyer said.

Nazrin was found dead in his bedroom at home in Mutiara Damansara after the double-storey terrace house caught fire on June 14, a day before Hari Raya.

His family had said that his handphone had exploded, causing the blaze. Cradle Fund also issued a statement, saying its CEO was dead of injuries attributed to an exploding handphone being charged next to the bed.

Nazrin’s older brother, Dr Malek Hassan, who saw Nazrin’s body after the first post-mortem, had told The Malaysian Insight that he had noticed a wound on the left side of the head that was too big and deep to have been caused by a blunt object like a handphone.

That observation, and with police classifying the case as murder, prompted Dr Malek to lodge a police report two weeks ago urging the authorities to exhume the body for a autopsy.

In the course of the investigations so far, police have arrested Samirah, a senior executive at the Malaysian Intellectual Property Corporation, her former husband, their two teenage sons, Nazrin’s sister-in-law and her husband for investigations, all on the widow’s side of the family.

All have since been released on bail.  – October 8, 2018.