Arrest warrant not needed for arrestable offence, says Jawi officer

KUALA LUMPUR: A Federal Territory Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) enforcement chief testified in a magistrate’s court here that a warrant of arrest was not needed for an arrestable offence.

Akmal Nadzim Abdullah, 45, who is also Jawi’s enforcement division assistant director, said he and a Jawi operation enforcement officer had explained the matter to the accused Siti Kasim during a raid at a transgender beauty pageant event.

“I explained to her the purpose of carrying out the inspection and informed her that a warrant was not needed for an arrestable offence,” said the fifth prosecution witness in the trial of Siti Kasim before magistrate Maizatul Munirah Abd Rahman yesterday.

Siti Kasim is charged with obstructing Jawi enforcement officer Siti Nor Jihan Saleh @ Md Ghazali from discharging her duties during the raid at a hotel at about 10.30pm on April 3, 2016.

I could clearly hear the accused had asked where the arrest warrant was.

Akmal Nadzim Abdullah

Akmal said he remembered Siti Kasim continuously shouting and questioning the power the department had to carry out the raid.

“I could clearly hear the accused had asked where the arrest warrant was,” he said.

On a question by deputy public prosecutor Haffizza Sauni on whether the inspection in the ballroom could be carried out, Akmal replied that it could not be conducted due to the accused’s behaviour.

He said this caused the enforcement officer to attend to the accused instead of the guests in the ballroom at Renaissance Hotel.

Earlier, Akmal had identified 11 enforcement officers out of 16 officers, including Siti Nor Jihan, who were involved in the raid.

The trial continues on Nov 7.