Lawyer gets death threats after challenge to K'tan syariah provisions
Published: Feb 11, 2024 9:41 AM
Lawyer Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid has filed three police reports after she received several death threats over her constitutional challenge to provisions under the Kelantan syariah law.
She told the New Straits Times that there have been “countless threats” on her life, along with numerous other online attacks and (threats to) “sembelih” (slaughter) her.
"I have lost count of how many threats there have been because these individuals do not understand.
"If only they would take the time to read and understand the laws and the reasons behind the challenge, they would understand.
"All they seem to do is blindly follow the instructions of their political leaders," she said.
She said such actions by desperate politicians and their followers were contradictory to Islam as a religion defined by peace.
She added that some even tried to drag Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim into it when her legal challenge had nothing to do with the prime minister or any particular political party.
On Friday, a Federal Court bench of nine judges in an 8-1 majority decision allowed a petition by Nik Elin and her daughter Tengku Yasmin Natasha Tengku Abdul Rahman to nullify 18 Kelantan syariah criminal provisions.
The court ruled that Kelantan's legislature exceeded its state-making power contained in the State List (List II) of the Ninth Schedule of the Federal Constitution.
However, the apex court only allowed 16 out of the 18 to be invalidated.
Nik Elin and her daughter said they were not attacking the syariah system as many have pointed out after the apex court's ruling that 16 provisions in Kelantan criminal enactments are unconstitutional.
"The very important thing that we need to say is that the (challenged) syariah criminal enactment is takzir (man-made laws). It is not hudud. It is not qisas," said Nik Elin.
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