Justice For Zara Qairina Must Be Through Legal Process - Home Minister

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 20 (Bernama) -- Justice and accountability in the case involving the late Zara Qairina Mahathir must be fully upheld in accordance with the law, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

He said truth and justice for the victim cannot be determined through conversations on social media or public opinion.

“Those who organise a series of demonstrations, what are they looking for? To seek the truth. To uphold justice. So how? It must be in line with the law and legal process.

“The truth cannot be established by taking at face value what the pathologist who was detained yesterday said, or by believing the theory of a teacher claiming Zara was murdered and abused with a washing machine.

“Truth and justice must go through the legal investigation process. Who has the authority to conduct legal investigations? The police, and that is exactly what we are doing," he told reporters after the Home Ministry’s National Day and Malaysia Day celebration and its monthly assembly here today.

Saifuddin said the ministry is aware that many rumours surrounding the student’s death are being circulated and that such claims will not stop.

He said although he had already presented the investigation report on the case in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, slander and false news would continue to spread.

Saifuddin said so far, a total of 195 witness statements have been recorded to ensure the investigation is truly complete and comprehensive.

“Of course, it takes some time for us to properly update the case, and that was what we submitted last Monday, which subsequently led to the Attorney-General’s Chambers making an announcement (that five underage teenagers were charged today under Section 507C(1) of the Penal Code in the Kota Kinabalu Juvenile Court).

“So that is the process I meant when I said the police must act in accordance with the law in order to seek truth and justice," he said.

Zara Qairina died at Queen Elizabeth I Hospital in Kota Kinabalu on July 17 after she was found unconscious in a drain near her school dormitory on the morning of July 16.

-- BERNAMA