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Judicial Review of Shariah Criminal Offence in Malaysia

Narizan, A. R.

Pertanika Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science, Volume 25, Issue S, October 2017

Keywords: Judicial review, Malaysia, shariah criminal offence

Published on: 16 Apr 2018

This article examines the role of civil court's judicial review pertaining to the enforcement of shariah criminal offence in Malaysia. The civil court has the power to judicially review the decisions of administrative authorities including any enforcements carried out by government officials and their subordinates whether it is in tandem with law and legislation or not. It assesses the validity of the enforcements and whether the procedural aspect has been legally adhered to. Similarly, the court also has the power to review shariah enforcement actions. Recently, three cases which had been reviewed judicially, namely, the seizure of a book entitled Allah, Love and Liberty, the Muslim men cross-dressing cases and the Kalimah Allah disputes. In these cases, the shariah enforcement actions have been declared unconstitutional, as they infringed the principles of freedom of expression enshrined under the Malaysian Constitution. The primary objective of this paper is to examine the position and implication of such judicial review over shariah criminal offence enforcements. Additionally, examine whether the civil-law trained judges have the necessary expertise to review the shariah related enforcement actions or not. Finally, repercussions of these reviews to the position of Article 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia are also assessed. This article employs full library research as the main source of data and collection content analysis is applied throughout the discussion.

ISSN 1511-3701

e-ISSN 2231-8542

Article ID

JSSH-S0535-2017

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