Thursday, 17 Dec 2020 03:46 PM MYT
BY IDA LIM
Ezra Zaid (right) and his lawyer Zulkifli Che Yong speak to reporters at the Petaling Shariah Subordinate Court in Shah Alam on December 17, 2020. Picture by Miera Zulyana
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SHAH ALAM, Dec 17 Mohd Ezra Mohd Zaid today expressed his happiness at finally being freed from a Shariah trial following his arrest by Selangor Islamic religious enforcers almost eight years ago over a book in Bahasa Malaysia that was published by his company ZI Publications Sdn Bhd.
Shortly after the Petaling Shariah subordinate court decided to discharge and acquit him from a Shariah charge over the book’s publication, Ezra took to Twitter to share his gratitude on the decision and to all who had supported him.
SHAH ALAM: The legal battle faced by publisher Mohd Ezra Mohd Zaid over a controversial book, titled Allah, Love and Liberty , has finally ended after eight years following the Petaling Syariah lower court s order to acquit him of a charge relating to the book which was deemed offensive to Islam.
Syarie court judge Shukran Yusof made the order of a discharge and acquittal on the 37-year-old.
Ezra was accused under Section 16(1)(a) of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Selangor) Enactment 1995. The charge, which he first faced in 2013, was of publishing, distributing and possession of 180 copies of the book written by Canadian Irshad Manji.