The Syariah Court of Appeal in Kuala Lumpur today dismissed former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s application for a review of his qazaf (bearing false witness) application against Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan that was struck out by the Syariah High Court.

In an unanimous decision, the three-member bench led by Md Yusup Che Teh ruled that zina (adultery) does not include the offence of sodomy and that the syariah court does not have the power to review this.

The decision today comes despite the bench recognising that hukum syarak (Islamic jurisprudence) bypasses all existing laws, but the judges said that since Parliament has stipulated ‘zina’ to mean adultery between a man and a woman, they had to adopt this definition.