KLANG: Sisters in Islam (SIS) has welcomed the Federal Court’s determination declaring Section 66A of the Administration of the Religion of Islam (State of Selangor) Enactment (ARIE) 2003 as unconstitutional.
The determination by a panel of 9 Federal Court judges on Monday (Feb 21) held that the state Syariah Courts don’t have the jurisdiction to listen to judicial opinions towards the choices of state spiritual our bodies.
SIS govt director Rozana Isa mentioned in a press release that Section 66A of the enactment solely got here into power in May 2015 after SIS had obtained go away by the High Court for a judicial evaluation of the 2014 fatwa issued towards it.
“The decision by the Federal Court to invalidate Section 66A of ARIE on the grounds of unconstitutionality is proof that the Federal Constitution is supreme and the state may not over reach and exclude the judiciary in the decision making process.
“With this matter now resolved, we can now focus on our pending appeal (against the fatwa) in the Court of Appeal,” mentioned Rozana in a press release.
She mentioned the Federal Court judgment additionally declared that the judicial opinions had been an inherent proper of the civil courts in addition to that the interpretation of the courts on the definition of Muslims as pure individuals was additionally ground-breaking.
However, Rozana added that SIS was additionally cautious of the Federal Court’s judgment regarding the fatwa’s content material, which was nonetheless beneath the purview of the Selangor Syariah Courts.
“We still have a long way to go as SIS’ journey to maintain the right to speak on justice and Muslim women’s rights is far from over.
“Regardless, SIS will continue to fight for Muslim women’s rights despite the challenges,” she mentioned.
SIS, in a separate motion, had additionally initiated a judicial evaluation towards Majlis Agama Islam Selangor (MAIS), the Selangor State Fatwa Committee and the Selangor authorities after the spiritual physique issued a fatwa, which declared SIS as deviants for subscribing to liberalism and spiritual pluralism.
The Federal Court had declared on Monday that the Selangor legislative meeting has no authority to make an enactment, which confers the state Syariah Court the ability to evaluation fatwa issued by the state spiritual authorities.
