Court allows SIS appeal to initiate judicial review to challenge Selangor fatwa

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeals yesterday allowed the appeal by Sisters In Islam’s (SIS) against a High Court’s refusal of its application to initiate a judicial review to challenge a Selangor fatwa ( edict) labelling the organisation as deviant.

A three-member panel led by Justice Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat ordered the case to be sent back to High Court to hear the merit of the case before another judge.

Tengku Maimun who presided over the appeal with justices Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli and Datuk Zaleha Yusof said the panel disagreed with the High Court judge in upholding the preliminary objection on the issue of jurisdiction.

“The Appeals Court allows the appeal, the matter is returned to the High Court for hearing before another judge, no order as to costs,” she said after hearing submissions from both parties.

The court also fixed March 9 for the case to be mentioned at the High Court.

Lawyer A Surendra represented SIS, while State Legal Advisor Datuk Nik Suhaimi Nik Sulaiman acted for Selangor Fatwa Committee and Selangor Government and counsel Yusfarizal Yussoff acted for Selangor Islamic Religious Council ( MAIS).

On June 24 last year, the High Court dismissed SIS judicial review application to challenge a Selangor fatwa labelling the organisation as deviant, after ruling the civil courts did not have jurisdiction to decide over the issue of fatwa.

Judge Datuk Hanipah Farikullah held that fatwa was a matter of determination by Islamic law and it came under the jurisdiction of the syariah courts, and said that under Article 121 (1A) of the Federal Constitution, the civil courts shall have no jurisdiction in respect of any matter within the jurisdiction of the syariah courts.

On Oct 31, 2014, SIS Forum ( Malaysia) had filed the application to challenge the MAIS decision of declaring the organisation as deviating from Islamic teachings and named the Selangor Fatwa Committee, MAIS and the Selangor government as respondents.

They seek a certiorari order to quash the decision of the Selangor Fatwa Committee and MAIS which stated that the organisation and any individuals, as well as groups, which adopted the deviant ideologies of liberalism and pluralism were deviating from the teachings of Islam.

They also applied for a declaration that the decision of the Selangor Fatwa Committee and MAIS in directing through the edict which directed the Multimedia and Communications Commission to block social websites that went against Islamic teachings as contradicting Section 3 ( 3) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

They are also seeking a declaration that SIS, which was formed under the Companies Act 1965 as a company limited by guarantee, was not subject to the decisions of the Selangor Fatwa Committee and MAIS. — Bernama