After three years of silence, the Kuala Lumpur Syariah Court of Appeal has decided to call the qazaf case (bearing false witness in a sex offence) between Anwar Ibrahim and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Jamil Khir Baharom and two others.

 

Anwar, who is serving a jail term in Sungai Buloh prison, is required to be present in court when the case is called next Tuesday.

 

This will be the second time Anwar is required to attend a court proceeding after he was convicted and sentenced to five years' jail by the Federal Court last month for sodomising his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

 

Anwar, who is Permatang Pauh MP and parliamentary opposition leader, was re-summoned on Feb 17 - exactly a week after he was sent to prison - to testify in his suit against Foreign Minister Anifah Aman.

 

This time, Anwar's presence is required along with syarie lawyer Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar, who appeared for Jamil Khir and two others - Federal Territory Islamic Department (Jawi) chief prosecutor Shamsuddin Hussain and Jawi director Che Mat Ali.

 

Jamil Khir is minister in the PM’s Department in charge of Islamic religious affairs.

 

The order for their appearance was signed by the deputy registrar of Syariah Court, Syazana Syahida Moktar. It is learnt the Prisons Department authorities is making arrangements for Anwar's presence next Tuesday.

 

Under the Federal Territory Syariah Offences Act 1997, qazaf is an allegation made by the complainant over an alleged vice or sexual intercourse without being supported by four male witness.

 

The offence is punishable with a RM5,000 fine or a maximum three years’ jail or both.

 

Qazaf filed seven years ago

 

The Permatang Pauh MP filed the qazaf application on July 9, 2008 at the Kuala Lumpur Syariah High Court, demanding the chief prosecutor of Jawi to take action on Saiful for his sodomy complaint as the PKR de facto leader claimed that his former aide was lying and failed to come up with the four witnesses to support the claim.

 

However, the court dismissed Anwar's application two years later, after it allowed a preliminary objection by Jamil Khir.

                                                           

The court ruled the application was frivolous and vexatious as the Jawi chief prosecutor has a quasi-judicial function where he cannot be politically pressured in the performance of his duties.

 

Despite the dismissal, Anwar filed an appeal over the KL Syariah High Court's decision.

 

Also after the dismissal of the qasaf application, Anwar had applied to disqualify Zainul Rijal from representing Jamil Khir ( left ) following the discovery that the lawyer has been appointed a member of the Federal Territory Islamic Council, which oversees the KL syariah courts.

 

On Jan 30, 2012, the KL Syariah Court of Appeal dismiss Anwar's appeal against the KL Syariah High Court's decision not to compel the three - Jamil Khir, Shamsuddin and Che Mat - to take action on Saiful for qazaf.

 

In a shocking decision, it allowed a preliminary objection by Jamil Khir, without leave (permission) being granted by the highest religious court in the Federal Territory.

                                                         

Unprecedented decision

 

Following the unprecedented decision, Anwar's lawyers Kamar Ainiah Kamaruzaman, Rafie Mohd Shafie and Mohamad Burok, who are senior syarie lawyers walked out of the KL Syariah Court of Appeal.

 

At that court hearing, Zainul Rijal was not representing Jamil Khir and two others, as the trio were represented by lawyers Roslizam Rahim, Abdul Rahim Bahri and Mohd Redzuan Ramli.

 

This leads to Tuesday's matter as it is understood that Zainul Rijal had made a preliminary objection to Anwar's application to disqualify him from representing the three.

 

However, Zainul Rijal's preliminary objection on the grounds that he had already withdrawn from representing the three following his appointment as MAIWP council member, was rejected by the Syariah Court with costs.

 

Given this, in the eyes of Anwar's counsels, Zainul Rijal ( far left ) is still lawyer for Jamil Khir.

It is yet to be known whether the KL Syariah Court of Appeal will fix a date to hear a review of Anwar's application to the Jan 30, 2012 decision.

 

In that review application, Jamil Khir and two others had also sought to strike out the review. They filed the matter on April 24, 2012.