PUTRAJAYA: A businessman has failed to initiate contempt proceedings against former Syariah Court chief judge Senator Datuk Dr Mohd Na'im Mokhtar, who is now the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs).
Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who led a three-member bench of the Federal Court in a unanimous decision, dismissed Hisham Halim's application for leave to initiate contempt proceedings on Tuesday (Jan 10).
Hisham, 40, the son of businessman Tan Sri Halim Mohammad, wanted to cite Mohd Na'im for contempt over the content of WhatsApp messages that allegedly disrupted the administration of justice.
Justice Tengku Maimun, who sat together with Federal Court judges, Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan and Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, dismissed the application with no order as to costs.
"In the context of the WhatsApp message that Mohd Na'im delivered in 2020 to several state Syariah judges, the apex court does not agree with the connotation accorded, and does not think that this falls in the same category of contempt of court in the Malaysiakini case and the Leap Modulation Sdn Bhd case," she said.
Lawyer Datuk Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and Nizam Bashir Abdul Kariem Bashir acted for Hisham, while senior federal counsels Suzana Atan and Ahmad Hanir Hambaly appeared for Mohd Na'im who was then director-general of the Syariah Judiciary Department Malaysia.
On Aug 25, 2020, Hisham via his civil lawyers, obtained leave for a stay of all Syariah Court proceedings, which was granted by High Court Judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid, in his divorce and custody case.
Hisham claimed that on Dec 16, 2020, Mohd Na'im sent a WhatsApp on to several state Syariah judges.
He claimed that the said message (by Mohd Na'im) scandalised the Malaysian judiciary as a whole by characterising an order judicially made by a superior court of competent jurisdiction as an attempt to "slaughter" the Syariah courts, and suggesting that any similar orders made by the judiciary would interfere with the Syariah courts, thus attacking the entire judiciary. – Bernama
