KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Court granted leave to four Kelantanese on Tuesday for them to appeal against a jail sentence meted out on them for renouncing Islam.
Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, Federal Court judge Justice Siti Norma Yaakob and Court of Appeal judge Justice Denis Ong unanimously allowed the application by Mohamad Ya, 56, Mat Yaakub Ismail, 55, Kamariah Ali, 50, and Daud Mamat, 71, after hearing submissions by their lead counsel Raja Aziz Addruse.
The appellants are to file their notices of appeal in seven days and the record of appeal in three weeks. Other lawyers representing them in the team are Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, Haris Ibrahim and Mohana Kumar.
Senio DPP Datuk Azahar Mohamad appeared for the Pengkalan Chepa prisons director while Kelantan legal adviser Jalaldin Hussain appeared for the state.
The questions of law referred to the Federal Court to be determined in the appeal are:
WHETHER the right to profess a religion under Article 11(1) of the Federal Constitution includes the right of a Muslim who has attained the age of majority to renounce his or her religion;
WHETHER a law imposing a fetter or other restriction upon the right of a person (other than a person who has not attained the age of majority) to renounce his religion is inconsistent with Article 11(1) of the Constitution and is therefore, void;
WHETHER the fetter or restriction imposed by section 102(1), (2) and (3) of the Kelantan Islam and Malay Customs Council (MAIK) Enactment is inconsistent with Article 8, 11(1) and (5) and 74 of the Cosntitution and is therefore, void.
The four, who are serving a three-year jail sentence imposed by the Kota Baru Syariah Appeals Court on Nov 19, 2000, sought leave from the Federal Court after their appeals were dismissed by the Court of Appeal on Aug 2.