KOTA KINABALU, Sept 8 — The coroner’s court today warned members of the public against sharing evidence while proceedings are still ongoing.
Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan, who is presiding over the inquest into the death of Zara Qairina Mahathir, said those who publish documents prematurely could be held in contempt of court.
“I would like to remind everyone to be careful with the exhibits that are in your possession. Do not share documents, especially while proceedings are still ongoing.
“Although we cannot stop everybody, authorities should look into this and take action as it could amount to contempt of court,” he said.
The warning came after pages of Zara’s journal were published in a Facebook post earlier today, before the document was tendered in court as evidence.
A blogger had uploaded a scanned handwritten entry at 9am and compared it to another writing sample.
Today’s proceedings saw 21 exhibits presented, consisting of various handwriting samples from Zara, including notebooks and journal entries up to earlier this year.
Nurul Atiqah Mohd Noh, a document examiner from the National Chemistry Department, confirmed that all but one of the samples were written by Zara.
The inquest was adjourned until 2pm.
