PETALING JAYA: A Shariah Court here has set Dec 17 to deliver its decision on whether to acquit book publisher Ezra Zaid over a religious charge for publishing a book that went against Islamic teachings.
Shariah Subordinate Court judge Shukran Yusof set the date after hearing arguments from Ezra’s lawyer, Zulkifli Che Yong, and sharie prosecutor Atras Mohamad Zin today.
Zulkifli told the court that Ezra should be granted a full acquittal after the Court of Appeal had ruled in favour of him and quashed the charge last year.
He added the decision was also affirmed by the Federal Court, when it denied leave to the Selangor government to challenge the Appeals court’s decision.
“The decision still stands. He may be charged again if he was given a discharge,” Zulkifli said.
Atras earlier urged the court to grant an order of “discharge not amounting to acquittal” to Ezra, as well as asking the court to forfeit the books seized by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) during their 2012 raid.
The state government also wanted the court to issue a “gag order” in restraining Ezra and his agents from commenting about the case.
Shukran then said the defence can file further submissions before Dec 17 in responding to the prosecutor’s gag order argument.
Ezra had won his appeal last year in challenging Jais’ actions in prosecuting him over Canadian author Irshad Manji’s work, “Allah, Liberty and Love”, and its translated version in Bahasa Melayu.
The book was banned in 2012 as it was deemed to have contravened the teachings of the Quran and hadith.
Ezra claimed trial at the Syariah Subordinate Court here on a charge under Section 16 of the Syariah Criminal Enactment.