KUALA LUMPUR: Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah was sentenced to seven days in jail by the Syariah High Court for committing contempt of court in her criticism of the court’s decision to impose a jail term on a businessman’s former wife.

       In finding her guilty yesterday, Syariah High Court judge Mohamed Fouzi Mokhtar said the article published by Maria as the respondent on Sept 5, 2019, relating to the case of businessman Datuk Wira SM Faisal SM Nasimuddin and his ex-wife Emilia Hanafi had belittled, demeaned and insulted the Syariah Court.

       “The title used by the respondent (Maria Chin) in the article itself has insulted the court and given a wrong impression of the Syariah Court institution to the public. Her article also contained factual errors and irrelevant points.

       “The court rules the respondent has committed contempt of court through her article.

       “The court also rejects the show-cause notice submitted by Maria Chin. Therefore, the court sentences the respondent to seven days in jail beginning today,” he said in his judgment as reported by Bernama.

       However, the court allowed a stay of execution pending an appeal filed at the Syariah Court of Appeal.

       On Sept 10, 2019, SM Faisal, a director of Naza World Group, and his mother, Datin Seri Zaleha Ismail, as an appellant, applied for leave to cite Maria for contempt of court, and the application was allowed by the Syariah High Court on Oct 14, 2019.

       In his brief judgment, Mohamed Fouzi said the respondent’s statement was not categorised as a fair comment, as it seemed to be aimed at discrediting the Syariah Court by using misleading and irrelevant case facts.

       “The statement made is not based on the facts given in the judgment and led the respondent into misrepresentation and contempt of this court,” he said.

       “The statement is derogatory, scandalous, negative, accusative and inaccurate, and the respondent’s action can affect the public’s trust in the Syariah Court system.”

       The judge stated that the respondent purposely insulted the court by stating that the court had discriminated against Emilia and other women who sought justice in the court.

       Mohamed Fouzi said as an MP, the respondent should have known better that this court would only decide the case after all the prescribed procedures had been met and based on clear evidence.

       The syariah judge said as a federal legislator, Maria should not question the syariah courts in performing their duties and undermine the law and any court while the court was carrying out its duties.

       “As an honourable MP, the respondent has enough space and the right platform to obtain accurate information, apart from providing fair views and suggestions for the good of this court,” he said.

       Syariah lawyers Datuk Sulaiman Abdullah and Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader represented SM Faisal, while lawyer Rosli Dahlan represented Maria.

       Maria was not present in court as she had been admitted to hospital for Covid-19.

       On Sept 4, 2019, the Syariah High Court ordered Emilia to be jailed for seven days for not abiding by the visitation rights given to the father of her three children and rescheduling those visits on her own.

       Emilia was released on RM5,000 bail pending appeal.

       The sentence handed down to Emilia prompted Maria to issue a statement published in a portal, claiming that Muslim women were still being discriminated against under Malaysia’s Syariah legal system.

       Following that, SM Faisal and Zaleha filed a committal proceeding application against Maria, and the application was allowed by the Syariah High Court.

       On March 3 last year, Maria, 65, filed a judicial review application to challenge the Syariah High Court’s decision to allow committal proceedings against her.

       The hearing for the application was fixed for May 25.