JOHOR BARU – The Shah Alam High Court dismissed Global Human Rights Federation (GHRF) president S. Shashi Kumar’s application to initiate private prosecution proceedings against Islamic preachers Zamri Vinoth and Firdaus Wong for allegedly insulting non-Muslim faiths.
In a statement today, Shashi said the ruling by justice Wendy Ooi upholds the previous decision by magistrate Mohamad Redza Azhar Rezali on September 2021, who denied the application on grounds that the police classified the case as “No Further Action” and the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) was unwilling to proceed with the matter.
Shashi added that more than 1,000 police reports were lodged against Zamri for insulting non-Muslim faiths and the GHRF president himself submitted a compilation of the allegedly “defamatory” statements from the preacher’s social media channels to police.
Expressing confidence there is more than enough evidence to prosecute these preachers, he alleged that the authorities practised double standards, and that action against non-Muslims who insulted Islam was taken within 24 hours.
“Police and the AGC stance made it seem as if the government was giving Zamri, Firdaus and the rest of them a free rein to continue making such ‘seditious statements’ against non-Islamic religions.
“There were so many non-Muslims who have been jailed within 24 hours for insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad but when it comes to non-Islamic religions being insulted, the law enforcers totally ignore the matter and we need to pursue on our own to get justice.
“The law should apply to all Malaysians without any such double standards or favouring any particular race or religion under the equal protection as enshrined by Article 8 of our federal constitution and the National Principles (Rukun Negara),” the statement by GHRF said. – The Vibes, February 27, 2023
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