KUALA LUMPUR – The Petaling Jaya sessions court is to deliver its verdict on nasyid singer and songwriter Muhammad Yasin Sulaiman’s charges of possessing, cultivating and consuming cannabis tomorrow.
Judge Faiz Dziyauddin had fixed the date on October 23 after hearing submissions from the prosecution and from Yasin’s defence team
The defence had called only one witness, Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr lan Llyod Anthony, who said Yasin had suffered a mental health relapse three months before the alleged offences.
The psychiatrist testified that Yasin had experienced a severe bipolar episode, which caused him to have the idea to plant cannabis for medical purposes.
“He felt he had the responsibility to help or ‘save’ those who suffer the same mental condition as him,” Anthony said in his testimony.
The prosecution, for their part, had seven witnesses.
After their testimonies, the court on October 3 ordered Yasin to enter his defence.
Yasin, 48, will learn tomorrow whether he will be found guilty and jailed. If he is found innocent, he could be sent back to the mental health facility in Perak, where he will remain unless he receives the King’s pardon for his release.
He was charged on March 24, last year, with one count of possessing 193.7g of cannabis, and one count of planting 17 cannabis plants in plastic pots at his house in Kota Damansara.
The first charge is under Section 39A(2) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, and carries a penalty of five years to lifetime imprisonment, and a maximum of 20 strokes of the rotan.
The second charge of cultivating cannabis is under Section 6B(1)(a) of the same act, which provides life imprisonment and at least six strokes of rotan, upon conviction.
The charge of ingesting cannabis is under Section 15(1)(a) and punishable under Section 15(1) of the same act, which carries a fine not exceeding RM5,000 or maximum two-year jail term if convicted.
Yasin is represented by lawyer Ariff Azami Hussein, while the prosecution was handled by Raja Zaizul Faridah Raja Zaharuddin.
The singer had a fourth charge of trafficking 214g of cannabis at his house and could have faced the death penalty, but he was given a discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) in July of last year. – November 28, 2023