KUALA LUMPUR – Kelantan-born lawyer Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid was vilified to the point of receiving death threats following her constitutional challenge against Kelantan’s shariah law.
Today, Nik Elin revealed to Scoop that both she and her daughter, Tengku Yasmin Natasha Tengku Abdul Rahman, have received immense threats on social media, including on Instagram, Tiktok, and X, following the Federal Court’s decision last Friday (February 9), which struck out 16 provisions from the law.
“This morning when I woke up there were already people slamming me, one wrote ‘we’ll find these two (Nik Elin and daughter), we’ll burn their house, Allahuakbar!” she said.
However, Nik Elin has lodged three police reports over the threats she received.
She further said that she remains resilient in braving all threats and attacks, knowing that her act in initiating the constitutional challenge was the right move that did not challenge Islam.
“We can (always) pray to Allah, asking for His protection… but if the people’s perception is deranged, then they’d have no mental capacity (to accept the recent court’s decision), despite numerous explanations.
“In fact, my friend told me this morning that (with 16 provisions nullified), it meant that (people) can now drink alcohol in Kelantan… and can eat in public on the day during Ramadan. Immediately, I responded, ‘Who told you so?’
“I asked my friend to read up on which sections (of the enactment) have been struck out. Section 35 (drinking alcohol) remains, and Section 10 (disrespecting the month of Ramadan) is also still in effect.
“So, go on. Try to drink alcohol in Kelantan and see what happens. The sections that criminalise such offences (under Kelantan’s shariah law) are still in effect.
“If you commit sodomy, let’s say in Kota Bharu, do you think you can get away (from being prosecuted)? Call the police, they will investigate, and you’re looking at punishment between five and 20 years in jail,” she said.
In 2022, the lawyer and her daughter contended that 20 provisions under Kelantan’s shariah law were unconstitutional. However, two provisions were retracted from being contested by the mother-daughter duo last year.
Last Friday, the Federal Court struck out 16 provisions, including Section 14 (sodomy), Sections 16 and 17 (sexual intercourse with a corpse and non-human), as well as Section 42 (misusing halal label and connotation).
Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, in delivering a majority 8-1 decision recently, said the panel of nine judges maintained two sections, which are Sections 13 and 30 under the enactment.
Section 13 of the enactment prohibits the ‘selling or offering of children to individuals who are not of the Muslim faith or to morally objectionable Muslim individuals’, while Section 30 makes it an offence to use ‘language that has the potential to incite unrest or disturb public order’.
Meanwhile, the Federal Court also contended that the two sections dropped, namely Section 5 (false claim) and Section 17 (gambling), are legal. – February 11, 2024
