Source: The Malay Mail Online

Lawyer Surendra Ananth (third from left) and members and supporters of Sisters in Islam are pictured at the Palace of Justice, Putrajaya, following the Court of Appeal’s favourable decision on March 2, 2017. — Picture by Zurairi AR
PUTRAJAYA, March 2 — The Court of Appeal reversed today a lower court’s ruling that had dismissed Sisters in Islam’s (SIS) judicial review application against a fatwa that labelled the women’s group as deviant.
The case will now be remitted to the Kuala Lumpur High Court to be heard in front of another judge, with case mention scheduled for March 9.
“We unanimously disagree with the High Court ruling. We allow the appeal,” Justice Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat told the court here when reading out the decision.
The panel that also included judges Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli and Datuk Zaleha Yusof did not go into the merits of the judicial review, and made no order with regards to costs.
The appellants were represented by lawyers Surendra Ananth and Fahri Azzat, while Selangor legal adviser Datuk Nik Suhaimi Nik Sulaiman and lawyer Yusfarizal Yussoff presented for the respondents.
On October 31, 2014, SIS filed for judicial review of a gazetted fatwa in Selangor that declared the group as “deviants” in Islam due to their alleged religious liberalism and pluralism.
The fatwa also deemed any publications with elements of liberalism and religious pluralism as “haram”, or forbidden to Muslims, and can be seized by religious authorities. Read more →