Hadi says syariah law does not provide for 'sumpah laknat'

PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang has said that syariah law does not provide for the oath made by former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak in denying his involvement in the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Free Malaysia Today reported that Hadi said syariah law only provides for “li’an” which is an oath a husband can take to accuse his spouse of adultery without legal proof and without becoming liable to punishment for such action. Similarly, the wife can take the same oath to deny the allegation.

Anyone who undertakes a li’an oath will invoke God’s curse if they are lying.

However, Hadi said there is nothing preventing anyone from taking any oaths they want.

“But if the accused does not have any witness, it’s best to keep quiet,” he said.

Hadi warned against being too eager to take such oaths as it may incur God’s displeasure.

An audience member at the event he was attending had asked him for his thoughts on Najib’s “sumpah laknat”.

On Dec 20, Najib had performed a sumpah laknat, an oath beseeching God to curse those who are in the wrong, to deny that he had ordered the killing of Altantuya.

He did so at the Masjid Jamek Kampung Baru in Kuala Lumpur.

Najib's move was in response to former police special action force (UTK) officer Azilah Hadri accusing the former premier of ordering the Mongolian national's murder in 2006.

In his statutory declaration (SD) from death row in the Kajang prison, Azilah alleged Najib convinced him that Altantuya was a foreign spy who posed a threat to national security.

The former chief inspector's SD was filed together with his application seeking a retrial and judicial review of the Federal Court's decision to reinstate his and another former UTK personnel Sirul Azhar Umar's conviction and death sentence in 2015.

Sirul had fled to Australia when the Court of Appeal acquitted the pair in 2013 and is currently in an immigration detention centre in Sydney.