PUTRAJAYA: The Attorney-General’s Chambers has decided no prosecution will be made relating to the Bible seizure case by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) last January and that the case is closed.
Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said Jais was directed to take further action in accordance with the law regarding the seized Bibles.
He said the AG’s Chambers had examined the facts and evidence in the investigation papers on the seized books and concluded that they were not the writings that were published under Section 9 (1) (a) of the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.
“The evidence showed that the seized books are the Malay version of the Bible and the Good News Bible is a compilation of the Torah, Old and New Testaments, which is the basic book of the Christians,” he said in a statement here.
He said the AG’s Chambers also took into account the Home Ministry’s evidence that the books were not monitored by the ministry and did not concern national security.
On Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim’s statement last week that the AG’s Chambers had yet to make any decision on the matter after six months, he said the investigation papers were first referred to his chambers last Feb 6.
It then advised that the investigation papers be completed and referred back to it on Feb 20.
Abdul Gani said Jais subsequently presented the investigation papers again on Feb 25 and was asked to refer to the ministry before referring them again to the AG’s Chambers.
On June 5 this year, Jais once again presented the investigation papers to the AG’s Chambers for advice, he said. — Bernama