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Malaysian Muslims who challenged sharia expansion in Kelantan hit out at death threats, ‘vitriolic campaign’
- Tengku Yasmin Nastasha and her mother were accused of being ‘threats to the sanctity of Islam’ after filing a legal challenge over the expansion of sharia law in Kelantan
- The Federal Court ruled in their favour, in a case that has sparked vigorous public debate and prompted some opposition politicians to ‘stir up’ division, analysts say
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Two Malaysian Muslim women who successfully challenged the expansion of sharia law in Kelantan state hit back at their detractors on Monday, after receiving death threats and having their faith questioned in a “vitriolic campaign” which has failed to understand the ruling.
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Tengku Yasmin Nastasha, who filed the legal challenge against the Kelantan legislature alongside her mother, lawyer Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid, said in a post on X that “the vitriolic campaign waged against us by adversaries manifested in baseless allegations, portraying us as threats to the sanctity of Islam in our nation”.
On Friday, the Federal Court ruled in favour of Nik Elin and Yasmin, saying that the state legislature of Islamist-ruled Kelantan state had indeed overstepped on federal jurisdiction and struck out 16 of 18 legal provisions from the state sharia code.
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The basis of the ruling was over the separation of power between Malaysia’s federal government and its 13 states, rather than any question of faith.
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