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Bookstore manager cleared over sale of 'un-Islamic' book in Malaysia
A Muslim manager of bookstore chain Borders Malaysia has been given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal by the country's Syariah High Court on a charge of selling and distributing a book which the authorities said contravened Islamic laws
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Muslim manager of bookstore chain Borders Malaysia has been given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal by the country's Syariah High Court on a charge of selling and distributing a book which the authorities said contravened Islamic laws.
A tearful Nik Raina Nik Abdul Aziz thanked the judge and hugged her Borders superior Yau Su Peng before walking out of court yesterday, the Malaysian Insider reported.
In May 2012, the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) had conducted a raid at the bookstore and accused Nik Raina, 39, of breaching Islamic laws by distributing or selling author Irshad Manji's controversial book, Allah, Liberty And Love.
Jawi charged Raina despite the department not actually banning the book until a week after the raid. If convicted, she could have been fined 3,000 ringgit (US$832), jailed for up to two years, or both.
The case worried members of the business community, who were concerned that their Muslim employees faced action by Jawi simply for doing their job.
Lawyers had said Raina was targeted simply because she was a Muslim working in a non-Muslim company.
It was also a test of how Malaysia's two legal systems - one governing the lives of Muslims, and the other, of non-Muslims - can co-exist in Malaysia.
Nik Raina's lawyer, Rosli Dahlan, told reporters that the decision was unexpected, but hailed the court for showing a full understanding of constitutional principles by freeing her.
"I stand here today not only for myself, but for all my colleagues, especially the Muslims who could face the same action by the religious authorities for merely doing our jobs," Nik Raina said outside the court yesterday.
Fighting back tears, she said she continued working at Borders as it felt like "the right place" to be. "I would not want to be anywhere else," she said. (***)
