Malaysian authorities have imposed a nation-wide ban on radical Islamist preacher Zakir Naik from giving speeches. He was under investigation for his hate speech against non-Muslims in the country.
#Breaking | Zakir Naik banned from making public speeches in all states in Malaysia. | Shabbir Ahmed with details. | #ZakirEndgame pic.twitter.com/LAa9UjuYQW
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) August 20, 2019
Zakir Naik has been under interrogation after his racially discriminative speeches against Hindus and Chinese Malaysians caused controversy in Malaysia.
Naik has been under investigation for his racist statements in Malaysia. His interrogation that was interrupted for the weekend continued at the Bukit Aman police headquarters yesterday. As per reports, Naik was grilled for over ten hours by the Royal Malaysian Police.
Naik was questioned under section 504 of the Malaysian Penal Code for ‘intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of peace’. Over 100 police cases were lodged against him after he made anti-Hindu and anti-Chinese remarks directed against Malaysian citizens recently.
After the intense grilling, Naik has issued a statement where he claims that he is not racist because racism is evil and his statements have been taken out of context.
It is notable here that Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad has stated recently that Naik has been attempting to create a racial divide in the country. On Sunday, PM Mahathir Mohamad stated that Naik has overstepped a line when he spoke against Malaysian Hindus and Chinese Malaysians. He stated that Naik’s statements were incendiary.
At a talk delivered at Kelantan a while ago, Naik had stated that Hindu Malaysians are not loyal to Malaysia but towards India’s PM Narendra Modi.
As per the latest reports from Malaysian media portals, Malaysian police have imposed a nation-wide ban on Zakir Naik from giving speeches or talks anywhere. Malaysian authorities have stated that the ban has been imposed in the interest of national security.
The Malaysian state of Sarawak has banned Naik from even entering the state.
Political leaders and authorities in many Malaysian provinces have been uniting against the Islamist preacher who is a wanted in India over cases of money laundering. Naik had managed to obtain permanent resident status in Malaysia after fleeing from India. So far, Malaysia has been hesitant to extradite Naik but Naik has been under a lot of criticism from all political parties and citizen groups for his hate speech against non-Muslims.
Zakir Naik is wanted in India in cases involving money laundering. The government of India had taken his channel, Peace TV, off the air and banned his NGO for peddling hate propaganda.
