Najwa binti Bistamam

On the court record

Najwa binti Bistamam appears in the reported corpus as counsel for the prosecution in migrant-smuggling litigation, before the High Court and Court of Appeal, argued on judgments in Bahasa Malaysia. The reported matters concern a charge under seksyen 26B(d) Akta Anti Pemerdagangan Orang dan Anti Penyeludupan Migran 2007 (section 26B(d) of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007, Act 670), read with seksyen 34 Kanun Keseksaan (section 34 of the Penal Code, common intention). A distinctive feature of the defence run below was the contention that the smuggling operation was in truth a legitimate operation of the Cawangan Khas Bukit Aman (the Special Branch), mounted to gather intelligence rather than to commit the crime of migrant smuggling, with a struggle said to have occurred during the operation.

Her reported prosecution work engages the specialised procedural framework that attends such cases. The catchwords record the application of seksyen 170 Kanun Tatacara Jenayah (section 170 of the Criminal Procedure Code), the Akta Perlindungan Saksi 2009 (the Witness Protection Act 2009), and seksyen 14 Akta Kesalahan Keselamatan (Langkah-Langkah Khas) 2012 (section 14 of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012, known as SOSMA), reflecting the security-offence character of the proceedings. Appearing for the prosecution, her reported work engages the elements of the migrant-smuggling offence, the answer to a defence that the conduct was a sanctioned intelligence operation, and the special evidential and security-offence provisions that govern the trial. The reported matters mark Najwa binti Bistamam as prosecuting counsel in the field of migrant-smuggling and security-offence litigation under Act 670 and SOSMA. The reported matters also engage the interplay between the security-offence procedure under SOSMA and the ordinary criminal process, including the protection of witnesses under the 2009 Act and the treatment of evidence gathered in an operation said to have been mounted for intelligence purposes — questions that shape how a migrant-smuggling prosecution is run from charge to verdict.