THE Syariah High Court today sentenced Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah to seven days imprisonment for contempt of court.
According to Free Malaysia Today, Judge Fouzi Mokhtar deemed that her statement made on Sept 5, 2019 on claims that Muslims women are being discriminated by the Syariah legal system was an “insult” to the Islamic judicial system.
“Maria has failed to justify through her defence on Feb 21, 2020, that her media statement did not scandalise the Islamic judicial system.
“She did not show any remorse and even blamed the system (for allegedly discriminating against women),” he added.
It is to note that Marian was not present in court as she has been admitted to hospital. Her counsel, Rosli Dahlan mentioned that his client would file an appeal the decision and urged the court to suspend the seven-day jail sentence.
Fouzi allowed the stay of execution and instructed Maria’s legal team to file their appeal within 14 days from today.
In 2019, the lawmaker commented on the Syariah Court’s decision to sentence SM Faisal SM Nasimuddin’s former wife, Emilia Hanafi to seven days in prison for rescheduling his visitation dates for her children.
Maria had referred to the verdict as a “grave injustice” and “total disgrace to the judicial system”. – April 25. 2022
Pic credit: AFP/Getty Images
