Halimah, 42, a mother-of four from Bandung, had pleaded guilty to committing khalwat with a non-Muslim male customer at a spa in Jalan Seang Teik here where she was working at 11.40am on Dec 8, 2011.
The illiterate was unrepresented when she was charged and had apparently nodded her head when the charge was read to her. She was allowed a stay of execution pending her appeal, with a bail of RM3,000.
She appealed to the Syariah Court of Appeal after the Syariah High Court dismissed her appeal against the conviction in September last year.
The case made headlines as the first in the country in which a non-Muslim was convicted in a Syariah Court for committing khalwat with another non-Muslim.
Cecil Rajendra, who is holding a watching brief for the Bar Council, produced a copy of the Syariah Court of Appeal’s decision at a press conference here Thursday.
He said there was no case against Halimah as under Section 74 of the Religious Enactment Act, the Syariah Court has no jurisdiction over non-Muslims.
He said he received a copy of the decision, which was made in chambers on June 5 by three Syariah Appeal judges, from the Indonesian consulate here.
The Indonesian consul-general here had, in a letter dated April 28 this year, made a request to the Chief Syariah Judge in Penang for the khalwat case against Halimah to be reviewed and withdrawn.
A copy of Halimah’s baptism letter issued by the Archdiocese of Medan was among several documents enclosed in the letter as proof of the faith Halimah was professing.
Halimah, who was present at the press conference with her employer, said she has not been back to Indonesia for four years partly due to the case and had to miss her son’s marriage last month.
Her lawyer, Wan Faridulhadi Mohd Yusoff, said he only found out about the Syariah Appeal Court’s decision when reporters called him for comments.
He said he would write to the court to seek an explanation.
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