00:00Celebrity preacher Da'i Syed, whose real name is Syed Shah Iqmal Syed Mohammed Shaiful,
00:08was convicted on a rape charge by the Shah Alam Sessions Court on Friday and sentenced
00:13to 10 years imprisonment and three strokes of the cane.
00:17Judge Norazlin Othman handed down the sentence on the 29-year-old preacher after finding
00:22that the defense had failed to raise reasonable doubts against the prosecution's case at
00:26the defense case.
00:28She ordered Syed Shah Iqmal to serve the prison sentence from Friday.
00:32During sentencing, the court said the accused, being a religious preacher and motivational
00:37speaker, had committed an act that defied logic.
00:41Syed Shah Iqmal was charged with raping a 23-year-old woman in a room at a condominium
00:47in Ai City, Shah Alam, in September 2019.
00:52Judge Norazlin also said the court found the defense by Syed Shah Iqmal was a mere denial
00:58and an afterthought, and concluded that his testimony was insufficient to refute the prosecution's
01:03case that the rape indeed occurred.
01:06Earlier, Deputy Public Prosecutor Raja Zayzul Farida Raja Zaharuddin requested the court
01:12to impose a severe sentence as a lesson for the accused, taking into account the public
01:17interest and the increasing prevalence of rape crimes.
01:20Syed Shah Iqmal's lawyer, Syed Amirul Syed Edros, requested a stay of execution of the
01:27sentence as the offense was his client's first.
01:30In April last year, the Shah Alam Sessions Court acquitted and discharged Syed Shah Iqmal
01:36of the rape charge after finding that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima
01:41facie case against him at the end of the prosecution's case.
01:45However, in March this year, the Shah Alam High Court overturned the Sessions Court's
01:50decision after allowing the prosecution's appeal and ordered the accused to defend himself
01:56against the charge.
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