PUTRAJAYA: Celebrity preacher Syed Shah Iqmal Syed Mohd Shaiful (pic), or Da’i Syed, is out of prison after 21 days. The Court of Appeal has allowed a stay of his 10-year prison sentence and three strokes of the rotan for rape.
In an unanimous decision, a three-judge panel chaired by Justice Azmi Ariffin said the court found special circumstances in the case that allowed for the appellant to be released on bail pending the disposal of his appeal.
“The appellant has never failed to attend court proceedings during the trial, therefore we do not see any flight risk at this stage.
“There is no evidence that the appellant had absconded before this. We have also considered that the appellant is a first time offender,” he said yesterday.
Justice Azmi then increased the bail to RM40,000 in two sureties.
He ordered for the appellant to report his attendance at the nearest police station each month.
On Aug 30, 2024, Syed Shah Iqmal was sentenced to 10 years in prison and three strokes of the cane for one count of raping a woman, five years ago.
On Jan 23, the preacher was ordered to be sent to Kajang Prison immediately after the Shah Alam High Court upheld his conviction and sentence.
Syed Shah Iqmal’s passport was kept at the High Court but Justice Azmi ruled yesterday that the appellant could apply to retrieve the passport should he need it for travel to Haj or umrah.
“Please make sure that the conditions I have mentioned are fully complied with or this bail will be revoked,” Justice Azmi said.
The other judges on the bench were Justices Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz and Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid.
After the proceedings were adjourned, Syed Shah Iqmal, who was handcuffed and seated inside the accused dock, went over to his teary-eyed wife, TV host Hana Ismail, to hug her.
Earlier, his lawyer M. Athimulan submitted to the court that it has jurisdiction to exercise its discretion and grant a stay on the execution of the sentence, imposed by the Shah Alam Sessions Court, who found the appellant guilty in 2024.
The lawyer said the defence has appealable issues to raise and should his client win the appeal, the prison sentence he was currently serving would have an irreversible effect.
Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor Atiqah Abdul Karim objected to the application.
She said that if the court decided to grant a stay, the prosecution wanted the bail amount to be increased to RM50,000.
Syed Shah Iqmal had first been charged on Dec 10, 2020 in the Sessions Court with raping a 23-year-old woman at a condominium in I-City, Section 7 Shah Alam, at 1.35am on Sept 11, 2019.
Speaking to reporters later, his lawyer Mohamed Baharudeen Mohamed Ariff said the hearing dates for the appeal proper at the appellate court had yet to be fixed.
