WOMAN’S rights group SIS Forum (Malaysia) has lost its appeal in the Court of Appeal to quash a fatwa issued by the Selangor religious authorities labelling it as deviant.

The decision was delivered by a three-member bench comprising judges Has Zanah Mehat, Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali and M. Gunalan in a 2-1 majority decision.

The majority decision came from Has Zanah and Che Mohd Ruzima while Gunalan dissented.

The court, however, granted an interim stay order to prevent execution by the state religious authorities of the fatwa following a request made by SIS’s lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, who informed the court that SIS intends to file an Erinford injunction application for the status quo to be preserved while it takes the matter to the Federal Court.

Che Mohd Ruzima, who delivered the court’s majority decision, held that there was no merit in the appeal brought by SIS.

He said it was the court’s view that the fatwa, which was prepared by the Selangor State Fatwa Committee, was not a final decision and thus cannot be challenged through a judicial review application.

He said a provision in the Administration of the Religion of Islam (State of Selangor) Enactment 2003 provides that a fatwa can be changed through amendment, modification or revocation.

“It means the applicant (SIS) can at any time appeal to the first respondent (Selangor State Fatwa Committee) to review the fatwa if it can be proved that its ‘ideologies and belief’ does not fall under the purview of liberalism and pluralism,” he said.

He also said the fatwa did not go against article 5 (liberty of a person) and article 8 (all persons are equal before the law and entitled to equal protection of the law) of the Federal Constitution.

The fatwa, which was gazetted by the Selangor government on July 31, 2014, has declared that SIS, any individual and groups that adopt the deviant ideologies of liberalism and pluralism are deviating from the teachings of Islam.

The fatwa directs that any publication containing liberal and plural views of Islam should be banned and confiscated, and instructs the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to censor social websites that goes against Islamic teaching and “hukum syarak”.

It also directs that any individuals holding on to liberalism and religious pluralism beliefs should repent and return to the path of Islam.

In his dissenting decision, Gunalan said the High Court erred when it dismissed SIS’s judicial review on August 27, 2019, adding that the fatwa could not be applied to SIS as it is a company and not capable of professing the religion of Islam.

He said the High Court had no basis to lift the corporate veil on SIS and make a finding that the controlling minds of the company are Muslim and, therefore, the company itself could be considered as professing the Islamic faith.

On August 27, 2019, the High Court dismissed the judicial review application filed by SIS, its founder Zainah Mahfoozah Anwar and former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Zaid Ibrahim. This prompted them to appeal to the Court of Appeal.

In their judicial review, they sought for a certiorari order to quash the fatwa.

In today’s proceedings conducted online, lawyers Fahri Azzat and A. Surendra Ananth also appeared for SIS, lawyer Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar acted for the Selangor State Fatwa Committee, Yusfarizal Yussoff represented the Selangor Islamic Religious Council and Selangor state legal adviser Salim Soib@Hamid represented the Selangor government.

Surendra said SIS will file leave to appeal to the Federal Court. – Bernama, March 14, 2023.