Zahid’s daughter warned by Court for Posting ‘absurd claims’ about Zahid’s Trial on Instagram

Yesterday (8 September), the High Court had issued a warning to Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s daughter, Datuk Nurul Hidayah for she had made subjudicial comments while her father’s trial is still ongoing.

According to NST, Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah was not happy when he heard Nurul Hidayah had been posting and talking about her father’s trial on Instagram.

Meanwhile, Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Datuk Raja Rozela Raja Toran told the High Court that Nurul Hidayah is believed to have used her Instagram account to make “absurd claims” that were prejudicial to the prosecution.

“She has made baseless accusations about the ongoing trial, making absurd claims like we amended Section 30(7) of the Malaysian Anti Corruption (MACC) Act just to ensure the prosecution against Zahid could go on.”

“She also claimed that the prosecution had admitted that there was no evidence of corruption (in Zahid’s case), and that it was all purely slander.”

“Obviously, we have never made such a statement… We haven’t even started our arguments. This is a blatant lie and she is obviously very ignorant of the law.” she said.

With that, the DPP urged the judge to issue a prohibition order against Nurul Hidayah to bar her from making any more of such postings.

After the DPP made the comments, Judge Collin said the court will not tolerate any subjudicial comments during the trial period.

“This is hardly a small matter. This court has to issue a warning that comments of subjudicial nature should not be made while this trial is ongoing.” he said.

In response, Zahid’s lawyer, Hamidi Mohd Noh apologised on behalf of Nurul Hidayah and they will looking this matter, including requesting her to remove the postings if it is the court’s will.

Oh the other hand, Zahid’s lead defence lawyer, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said the matter was beyond their control, but Judge Collin said he still had to issue a warning though he did it without naming anyone.

After the warning, Nurul Hidayah, who has over 130,000 followers on Instagram, has issued an apology in an Instagram post and said it will not happen again.

In addition, she also wished the best to both the prosecution and defence team in the post.

Meanwhile, she also shared a separate post on Instagram and wrote that a lot of headlines in the press can be said to be “misleading. About me”.

“Well. That is the price I’ve gotta pay. I am still proud to be Anak Zahid.” she added.