Mustafa Akyol freed: Jawi director

KUALA LUMPUR: The Turkish writer who was detained by the Malaysian Immigration Department yesterday, has been released, said Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) director Abdul Aziz Jusoh.
He said Mustafa Akyol was freed at noon today after Jawi completed their investigation and was satisfied that the organiser did not inform him of the need to obtain credentials from the religious authorities to deliver talks about Islam in the country.
"Jawi had received complaints from members of the public on Akyol's involvement in a roundtable discussion entitled 'Does Freedom of Conscience Open The Floodgates to Apostasy?' last Sunday," said Abdul Aziz in a statement here today.
He also said that the department had summoned the Turk for questioning, which was supposed to take place yesterday, and applied to the Kuala Lumpur Syariah Court to issue a warrant of arrest after Akyol failed to turn up.
Akyol was detained at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport before he was handed over to Jawi to have his statement recorded.
Abdul Aziz also advised organisers to ensure that speakers who were invited to deliver any form of talks relating to Islam to have the proper credentials as required by Malaysian laws.
Failure to do so will result in the breach of Section 11 of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997 (Act 559) which provides for a fine not exceeding RM5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both, if convicted, he added. — Bernama