KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 — Subang PAS chief Zaharudin Muhammad today cited Islamic law to call on the authorities to pardon former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is currently serving his 12-year jail sentence for stealing RM42 million in funds belonging to a former 1MDB subsidiary.
Zaharudin claimed that there were flaws in Najib’s trial from the get-go, saying that Shariah law would not have allowed a judge who supposedly has a conflict of interest, try him in the first place.
“In Islam, it is the right of the accused to object to the appointment of a judge who has conflict of interest.
“In this case the judge was appointed by the disputing party which is the prosecution team,” Zaharuddin said in a video posted on his TikTok account.
He was referring to SRC International trial judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali who has since been elevated from the High Court when the case started, to the Court of Appeal.
The purported conflict of interest has been repeatedly raised by Najib’s supporters and has just as often been rebutted by law experts who pointed out that their allegations about Nazlan dated to before the latter joined the judiciary in 2015.
Zaharudin, who is also the son-in-law of PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, also claimed that the trial judge had rejected several pieces of evidence raised by Najib’s defence without looking at them.
“In Islamic law, judges don’t have the right to reject the evidence until they have reviewed it to decide whether or not to accept it,” he claimed.
He said that if Najib were to be pardoned, it would put an end to the controversy.
@uzmzaharudinmuhammad Pandangan BPMS ttg isu pengampunan DSNR. #dsnr #fyp #fypシ original sound - UZM - Ustaz Zaharudin Muhammad
However, Zaharudin’s remarks were made amid rumours that the Pardons Board would be sitting to discuss Najib’s case, which was disproved yesterday.
The PAS politician pushed for Najib to be retried for the SRC International case, claiming there were loopholes in the civil judicial system opposed to the Shariah justice system.
“As mentioned, the appointment of the judge was questionable, so the case should be heard again,” he said.
Zaharudin claimed that Islamic law operates on the principle that it is better for a wrongdoer to be free than for an innocent to be punished.
“Between keeping Najib in prison and releasing him through pardon, it is better to pardon him as it is closer to the Islamic system,” Zaharudin said.
He has served eight months of his 12-year sentence after being sent to the Kajang Prison on August 23, 2022, after the Federal Court upheld his conviction for criminal breach of trust, power abuse and money laundering.
Najib filed his application for a pardon last September 2.
To know how the royal pardon process works in Malaysia, read here for a summary by Malay Mail.
