The chief justice, Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, said lawyers were bound by the ethics of their profession and it was inappropriate for them to discuss pending cases in a public forum, Bernama reported.
She said the court had taken the unusual step of making its observation because so much had been said by many people about the petition and most of what was said was a distorted version of the real issue before the court.
“As we have stated from the beginning of the hearing on Aug 17, the issue is not about bringing down the position of Islam or the shariah court in this country. The issue that arises from the petition is only about the competence of the Kelantan state legislative assembly to enact the contested provisions,” she said.
She said a statement that “the shariah court will be buried in Malaysia” is not true.
Justice Tengku Maimun said this in response to the statement by lawyer Yusfarizal Yussoff, representing the Council of Islamic Religion and Malay Customs of Terengganu, that it is important for someone to understand the challenge to the authority of the shariah court before it is buried like a “tombstone”.
She said the court had taken note of the petitioner’s application regarding several statements allegedly made by Yusfarizal.
Yusfarizal was questioned by Tengku Maimun on whether he had made the statement as quoted in the petitioner’s affidavit, to which the lawyer replied that he had to check the transcript and was not sure of the exact words used.
“Subject to whatever answer Yusfarizal wants to make on this matter, we would like to remind lawyers that you are bound by the ethics of your profession and it is inappropriate to discuss pending cases in a public forum, especially when you have failed to disclose the full facts of the case.
“We want to remind everyone in this court especially to uphold the rule of law, and not incite public sentiment. We urge lawyers to argue the case based on the issues before us,” she said.
The case before the Federal Court arises from a petition by two Muslim women to challenge the right of the Kelantan state assembly to enact 18 provisions in the shariah criminal code. Tengku Maimun said the court reserved its decision on the petition to a date to be set later.
The panel of judges hearing the petition consists of Court of Appeal president Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim; Chief Justice of Malaya Zabidin Diah; Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak Abdul Rahman Sebli; Federal Court judges Nallini Pathmanathan, Mary Lim, Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal, Nordin Hassan and Abu Bakar Jais.
The court has been petitioned by Kelantan-born lawyer Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid and her daughter Tengku Yasmin Nastasha Tengku Abdul Rahman to decide on the constitutionality and validity of 18 provisions in the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment of 2019.
They contend that the Kelantan state legislature does not have the authority to legislate on the 18 offences because they are covered by federal law.
The petition named the Kelantan government as the sole respondent.
In today’s proceedings, lawyers representing the Perak Islamic Religious Council and Malay Customs and the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council were allowed to intervene in the case as amicus curiae (friend of the court).
More than 1,000 people, mostly PAS supporters, gathered outside the Palace of Justice as early as 8am today to find out the outcome of the case.