THREE individuals, including a former journalist, well-known as Ibu Yati, claimed trial in the Selangor Shariah High Court today to expounding religious doctrines contrary to Islamic law and spreading them through Facebook between December last year and 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 sharie judge Mohammad Khalid Shaee@Shaii. 

Wan Norhayati was charged with three counts and Noorafiza, one count, under Section 7 of the Shariah Criminal Enactment (Selangor) 1995, namely, teaching or expounding any Islamic religious doctrine, ceremony or act contrary to Islamic law.

Hamid faced two charges under the same section and another under Section 9 of the Shariah 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, a fine not exceeding RM5,000 or six strokes of the rotan or all three, while under Section 9 any person guilty of the offence could be fined RM5,000, 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 Hamid was alleged to have committed the offences at Taman Dato Razali, Kg Melayu Ampang at about 9pm on February 2.

Chief sharie prosecutor Zainor Rashid Hassim prosecuted 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 Hamid in two sureties each. 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 mention of Wan Norhayati and Noorafiza’s cases and January 18, 2022 for Abdul Hamid’s case. – Bernama, July 28, 2021.