PETALING JAYA: The seizures of books or leaflets deemed anti-Islam can be made without the Home Ministry banning it first, said the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais).

“We have the authority to seize religious publications, documents or any form of recordings that breach the hukum syarak (Islamic laws enforced in Malaysia) as provided for under Section 16 of the Syariah Criminal Enactment (Selangor) 1995.

“If Jais suspects there is a breach of the section, the consent of the Home Ministry is not required,” said Jais director Datuk Marzuki Hussin, in a statement to The Star yesterday.

He added, however, that the section provides seizures only when there is an arrest of suspects who had committed offences under that section.

He warned that the courts can order for such offensive materials to be destroyed and their ownership forfeited even without any person being convicted for the related offences under the section.

He also said the court has the power to destroy or forfeit the publications although no person is convicted for the offence.

He said this in relation to the seizures of a number of copies of the book, Allah, Kebebasan dan Cinta, from Borders bookstore at the Gardens Mall in Mid-Valley City here in May.

The book is a Malay translation of the book by Canadian writer Irshad Manji, Allah, Liberty and Love, which the Home Ministry has banned on the grounds that it had misled the public and is against the syariah laws prescribed by the Quran and Hadith.

Uganda-born Manji is a supporter of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement.

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