By Debra Chong
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 22 — An imam threw his shoes at three senior judges in the country’s highest court today after they struck out his bid to challenge an eviction order from a city mosque here four years ago.
Hoslan Hussin, 46, stunned the judges, lawyers and members of the public that packed a courtroom at the Federal Court this morning when he stood up, took off both his shoes and lobbed the pair right at the Bench.
Even more astounding perhaps was that the three-man Bench, chaired by Chief Judge of Malaya, Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin, let the imam go without a fuss. They could have cited him for contempt of court.
Zulkefli was flanked by Datuk Suriyadi Halim Omar and Datin Paduka Zaleha Zahari.
An eyewitness to the incident, who did not want to be named, told The Malaysian Insider the judges were likely embarrassed.
“Ya. I did it. I chucked my shoes at the judges,” the father of 11 admitted to The Malaysian Insider when contacted.
The incident happened about 10am. The imam’s case was the fourth to be called for hearing this morning.
Hoslan, who was formerly an imam at the Al-Rahimah Mosque in Kampung Pandan here, said he did it because he felt sorely vexed with the judges who took less than half an hour to throw out his case.
“The courts have failed to uphold justice,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
“I am an imam. How can I keep quiet? I threw my shoes because I could no longer stand it. How can an imam keep quiet when he sees injustice being done? I am not a coward,” he said, and added that former chief justice, Tun Dzaiddin Abdullah, was right when he said the judiciary was now cowed by the executive branch of government.
Hosland, who was not represented by a lawyer, said he was trying to explain his case to the judges but they did not appear to want to listen.
“They said I lost because I did not file an affidavit in reply to the respondents, the Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Council (MAIWP) . They said my case should be heard before a Syariah court,” said the unhappy man.
He said the judges made their decision after listening only to MAIWP’s lawyer, Zulkefli Che Yong, who argued that Hoslan’s case had exceeded the allowed timeframe, and had not given him a fair chance to plead his case.
He said the police officers on duty in the court had moved to usher him out, and he left without further incident.
Hoslan said he was too incensed to collect his shoes and left the Palace of Justice barefoot.
He told The Malaysian Insider that even though the court took no action, he lodged a police report at about 3pm today.
The throwing of one’s shoes is considered a grave insult in the Muslim community and calls to mind US president George W. Bush being “shoed” in a December 14, 2008 press conference by an Iraqi reporter.