The case of the former Mufti of Perlis, Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, who is accused of teaching Islamic religion without accreditation last year will be heard at the Shah Alam Syariah High Court.

Syarie judge Mohamad Adib Husain today made the decision to accept the application for a judicial review from Selangor syarie chief prosecutor, Abdul Shukor Abdul Halim on the decision of the Gombak Timur Syariah Lower Court judge, who had earlier dismissed the application to transfer Asri's case to the High Court.

On Nov 18, 2009, Mohd Asri, 38, pleaded not guilty to the charge of teaching Islamic religion without accreditation at a house at Lorong 2C, Taman Sri Ukay, Ampang between 8.10pm and 9.45pm on Nov 1 last year.

He was charged under Section 119 (1) of the Selangor Islamic Religious Administration Enactment 2003 which provides for a fine of not more than RM3,000 or a maximum jail term of two years or both upon conviction.

When reading his decision, Mohamad Adib said the High Court had the power to review the decisions made by the Lower Courts to uphold justice and the review process focused on cases which were still being heard and not those where judgment had been passed.

In the case of Mohd Asri, he said the case had not been heard yet.

Under Section 101 of the Selangor Syariah Criminal Procedure Enactment 2003, the Syarie Chief Prosecutor had the right to transfer the case from the Lower Court to the High Court, he said.

He said this privilege was in line with the civil courts where cases from the Magistrate's Courts could be transferred to the High Court under Section 117 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Mohamad Adib said the justification of public interest given by Abdul Shukor to transfer the case to the High Court was reasonable and not because of individual interest as Mohd Asri was the former Perlis mufti.

- Bernama