SOME 76 opposition MPs today criticised Kuala Lumpur Shariah High Court Judge Mohamed Fouzi Mokhtar for jailing Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah for contempt of court.

The lawmakers said any system of law, civil or shariah, should be open to criticism of individual judgments, as guaranteed under the constitution.

“Maria’s seven-day jail sentence raises serious questions of procedural impropriety. The fact she was sentenced to a custodial sentence in her absence is wrong and, we are advised, contradicts existing legal provisions on sentencing.

“We are glad to know that a stay of execution pending her appeal is in place.”

“We will stand by Maria in her exercise of her right of freedom of expression in raising matters of clear public interest, albeit critical of the shariah judicial system, just as we would even if the civil system was the subject matter,” the MPs said in a statement.

Chin was sentenced to jail for contempt of court after she issued a statement back in 2019 that Muslim women were still subject to discrimination under the shariah legal system.

This statement reportedly “insulted” the Shariah judicial system.

Chin’s statement was in relation to the Shariah Court’s decision to sentence S.M. Faisal S.M. Nasimuddin’s ex-wife, Emilia Hanafi, to seven days in prison for rescheduling his visitation dates.

The mother, who had custody of the children, had at the request of her children sent a letter for a change in visitation date to the father via her lawyer, so they could attend a religious event. 

She had promised to replace the visitation date with another the week immediately thereafter.

However, the court found Emilia in contempt and sentenced her to seven days in jail.

Speaking further, the MPs said that Chin had raised the question of the disproportionate custodial sentence inflicted on the wife for just changing a visitation date with full notice to the husband. 

They added that the Petaling Jaya MP had only raised the issue of discrimination in the shariah system against women.

“In her 30 years of activism she witnessed many cases where divorced Muslim women struggled to find justice.”

“Her comments were not scurrilous or malicious. They were clearly made in good faith with the view that the shariah legal system and other bodies would address them.”

“Judges are by no means immune to public criticism and are accountable to those they serve in order to place confidence in the judiciary,” they said.

Fouzi, in a written judgment sighted by The Malaysian Insight last week, said Chin used irrelevant facts when commenting on the dispute between the former couple.

The court found that Chin, through her defence on February 21, 2020, failed to justify that her media statement did not scandalise the Islamic judicial system.

“She (Chin) does not show any remorse and even blamed the system (for allegedly discriminating against women),” Fouzi said. – April 28, 2022.