In his full judgment on a suit filed by Amri’s wife, Justice Su Tiang Joo said no answers were ever provided by the police and government in the course of the trial.

The court noted that the government led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2019 had sanctioned a task force to look into the Suhakam findings on Amri and another missing person, Pastor Raymond Koh.

A report was prepared by the task force but never released to the public as it was classified as a government secret.

“In short, from the time the task force was set up until the report was submitted on March 13, 2020, as well as the conclusion of this trial (July 9), no further investigations were done.

“It would be opportune to observe that the investigating officer, Khor Yi Shuen – against whom the task force had recommended disciplinary action for incompetence – was promoted to a senior rank (assistant superintendent) in 2021,” he said in his written judgment released last week.

The contents of the task force’s report were disclosed after Amri’s wife, Norhayati Ariffin, secured its release in a separate proceeding.

The task force concluded that the police had been incompetent in handling Amri’s case and that “rogue” police officers were involved in Koh and Amri’s disappearances. It also named 10 persons of interest.

Khor, who testified in the suit, claimed he was no longer in charge of Amri’s case after being transferred from Perlis in 2019.

However, Khor also said that he never formally handed over the investigation papers to another officer.

Last month, a judgment of RM5 million was entered against the government and police in Norhayati’s lawsuit.

Amri named as a person propagating Shia Islam in Perlis

During the course of trial, the court heard that a witness statement was recorded from former Special Branch senior officer Awaludin Jadid for investigations into a 2018 police report filed by Norhayati.

In his statement, which was tendered as part of the evidence, Awaludin told the police that the spread of Shia Islam was a threat to national security.

He said he had met Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin in October 2016 to discuss the spread of Shia Islam and Amri’s involvement in propagating the teachings.

To that, Su said: “Even if Shia Islam were to pose a threat to national security, surely the adherents should be entitled to due process and be told what provision of the law makes it an offence to be an adherent of Shia Islam, and to defend themselves in the court of law.”

The judge said the police should have pursued the Shia links in their probe.

“The defendants did not pursue their probe from the Shia Islam angle with the seriousness it ought to have.

“The plaintiff (Norhayati) asserted that she feared the worst for her husband, which meant that she believed Amri had been abducted and killed,” Su added.