The Syariah Lawyers Association has maintained that the Carcosa sex video does not constitute solid proof for conviction of adultery under Syariah law.

Musa AwangTimbalan PresidenPersatuan Peguam Syarie Malaysia Its deputy president Musa Awang ( left ) in a statement today said he disagreed with the Malaysian Muslim Lawyers Association’s (PPMM) claim yesterday that the sex video constituted proof.

“The video recording is certainly not solid proof sufficient for a conviction of adultery. The video represents evidence that is weak, and in Islam is called bayyinah (hearsay) or qarinah (evidence),” said Musa.

“Syafie and Hanafi ulama only accept convictions made through iqrar (confession) and syahadah (eyewitness testimony) of four males who are impartial and independent, and rejects proof provided by bayyinah or qarinah .”

"I disagree with PPMM president Zainul Rijal’s statement that the sex video can be used as evidence to accuse an alleged perpetrator in a syariah court,” he said, adding that the matter had already been debated amongst the ulama.

He criticised the local handling of adultery under the Syariah Criminal Enactment Act, that he says at present does not follow Islamic Law ( hukum syarak ) and does not really adhere to what is stated in the Quran.

Awang contends that the punishments detailed for adultery in Malaysia does not conform to the teaching of Islam as found in the Al-Quran and hudud law.

This, he said, is because Section 2 of the Syariah Courts Act (criminal jurisdictions) 1965 restricted jurisdictions of the Syariah Court only to Muslims, and only to offences punishable by fines not more than RM5,000, jail terms of not more than 3 years, no more than six lashes of the rotan or a combination of any of the above.

Musa's stand supports that of the Perlis mufti Juanda Jaya, who yesterday criticised Zainul's claim that the Carcosa sex video was admissible as evidence in Syariah Court.

Zainul however returned Juanda's volley claiming, “In Syariah court, bayyinah has been widely used including videotapes, photographs, documents and so on.”