KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 10): The High Court here has set Aug 30 to deliver its decision on whether leave will be given to Emilia Hanafi to challenge the Shariah Court's jurisdiction regarding contempt of court proceedings.

Judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid said he will deliver his decision via email, after listening to submissions from all parties on Wednesday (Aug 10).

In the application filed on June 8, 2022, the former wife of businessman Datuk SM Faisal Syed Nasimuddin Kamal is seeking, among others, a declaration that the Shariah High Court and/or Shariah Appeal Court has no jurisdiction or power to punish any individual for contempt of court.

Emilia's counsel Nizam Bashir argued that Article 126 of the Federal Constitution indicated that the power to initiate contempt proceedings lies within the jurisdiction of the Federal Court, Court of Appeal and the High Court.

He also raised the question of whether the Kuala Lumpur shariah courts can hear committal proceedings when the applicant is not domiciled in the Federal Territory. Emilia currently resides in Kajang, Selangor.

However, Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader, who represented SM Faisal and his mother Datin Seri Zaleha Ismail — the first and the second respondents respectively, countered that when the custody application was filed, both parties resided in Kuala Lumpur.

Their position, he argued, was that as long as one of the parties resided in the Federal Territory — as is the case with his client — that was sufficient for that individual to commence legal proceedings against the other party.

The other respondents in the matter are Registrar of the Kuala Lumpur Shariah High Court, the Chief Registrar of the Federal Territories Shariah Court of Appeal, the Kuala Lumpur Shariah High Court, the Kuala Lumpur Shariah Court of Appeal and the Government of Malaysia.

Federal counsel Mohammad Sallehuddin Md Ali, who represented the other respondents, argued that if there is a question of constitutionality involved, the matter should be brought before the Federal Court, instead of by way of judicial review.

'Stay on eighth committal proceedings not granted'

On Wednesday, Ahmad Kamal did not grant a stay on the eighth committal proceedings against Emilia. Committal proceedings are proceedings brought against a party for breach of a court order.

The eighth committal proceedings revolve around visitation rights, which allegedly took place in September and October 2019.

Among others, the mother of three allegedly changed the pick-up point of their children from the agreed upon location in Kuala Lumpur to Kajang, which led to the issue of a show cause notice in February 2022. However, the Shariah Court had allowed Emilia to file an application to set aside the show cause notice and set Sept 21 to deliver its decision on whether the said notice will be set aside.

The couple married in 2004 and divorced in 2016. Following the divorce, both parties recorded a consent judgement which also pertains to the custody of their three children in the Shariah High Court in 2018.

Emilia was given permanent custody over the children while SM Faisal was given visitation rights.

Separately on June 27, Emilia began serving a seven-day jail sentence for contempt of court on another matter regarding visitation rights.

The Shariah High Court meted out the sentence on Sept 4, 2019 after she unilaterally rescheduled visitation dates of the children to be with their father.