SIS said it would be filing an appeal to the Federal Court over the Court of Appeal’s decision.
“The dissenting judge in the Court of Appeal’s findings today, M Gunalan, reiterated and upheld the decision of the Federal Court in 2022, that fatwas can only be issued and applied to persons who profess the religion of Islam. SIS as an organisation could not profess the religion as such.
“Based on the oral grounds delivered, SIS is particularly concerned that the majority decision by the Court of Appeal appears to not follow the precedent made at the Federal Court.
“The basis and arguments raised by SIS in this case have always been on the grounds of the constitution and the extent to which the relevant authorities had the mandate to make state laws and grant powers to state-level authorities that are in clear contravention of the constitution,” it said in a statement.
SIS had sought to quash a 2014 fatwa by the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) stating that the women’s group subscribes to liberalism and religious pluralism and deviates from the teachings of Islam.
In a split decision earlier today, Justices Has Zanah Mehat and Che Ruzima Ghazali held that there were no merits in SIS’ appeal. Gunalan, however, dissented.
Ruzima said that a fatwa made by the state religious authorities was not “conclusive” and could be amended or revoked at any time.
Gunalan, in his dissenting judgment, said that the High Court had erred in its decision to dismiss SIS’ legal challenge on Aug 27, 2019.
He said that SIS was registered as an entity, and that, unlike individuals, organisations could not “profess” a religion.
“There was no basis by the High Court to lift the corporate veil and make a finding that the controlling minds in the entity are Muslims and thus (the entity) can be considered as professing Islam,” he said.
In a landmark decision last year, the Federal Court said that it was unconstitutional for the Selangor state legislative assembly to attempt to empower the shariah courts to conduct judicial reviews of the Islamic authorities’ decisions.
In that case, SIS had challenged the constitutionality of Section 66(A) of the Administration of the Religion of Islam (State of Selangor) Enactment 2003, which provides state shariah courts power for judicial review.