Siti Kasim unveils tragic death of unresolved tahfiz school pupil which bears semblance to Zara's fate
#KotaKinabalu #Sabah Jenazah Zara Qairina Mahathir, 13, dibawa keluar dari Jabatan Perubatan Forensik, Hospital Queen Elizabeth I kira-kira 9.30 malam ini setelah proses bedah siasat selesai.
Jenazah akan dikebumikan semula di Tanah Perkuburan Islam Tanjung Ubi, Kampung Mesapol,… pic.twitter.com/4BerNHKR4h
— BERNAMA (@bernamadotcom) August 10, 2025
Believed to be a victim of bullying, the body of the then Form Four pupil was found hanging in the toilet of the Maahad Tahfiz Sains Nurul Aman dormitory in Kok Lanas, Kelantan on Dec 12, 2013 by the school's principal after smelling a foul odour from the toilet.
Following the results of the autopsy, the case was classified as a sudden death and not related to criminal elements.
However, in June 2016, the Coroner's Court ruled that Wan Faris' death was caused by the actions of an unknown individual, thus ruling out the possibility of suicide.
'Unfortunately for the victim's family, his death didn't receive wide coverage with his family having to cope with injustice surrounding his death,' the human rights activist and lawyer pointed out in a YouTube video.
'He was found hanging only wearing a black jacket outside his red t-shirt without any long pants, short pants nor men's brief while his genital was exposed. A pair of black long pants was found clogged in the toilet hole.'
Editor's Note: On July 28, Wan Faris' family has filed a civil suit against three main parties, namely the Malaysian Government, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and the investigating officer of the case.
The legal action came after the victim's mother, Ruhani Hussin, 70, sought to unearth the truth as well as to seek justice for her son.
This came about after a group of legal experts comprising political activist and former federal lawyer at the Attorney-Geneal's Chamber (AGC) Liyana Marzuki pooled their resources together in February this year to help the family on a pro bono basis.
Endless drag
Referencing court filings, Siti Kasim further revealed that Wan Faris had on Dec 9, 2013 engaged in a quarrel with some unidentified pupils. Additionally, more or less the same time, the victim had lodged a report on a fellow pupil who was then suspended for '(secretly) visiting the daughter of the school's owner'.
'It's strange that the police didn't suspect any foul play despite photos taken prior to Faris' body being removed from the school's toilet have shown signs of significant bruises on his back and buttock areas,' lamented Siti Kasim.
'Even more bizarre is the action by the school's authorities to demolish the toilet where the victim was found prior to the school's re-opening after the holiday break on grounds that the former wanted to prevent its pupils from experiencing trauma.
'Equally mind-boggling is the fact that the forensic/autopsy report on Faris' death was only issued on April 29, 2014 which was almost five months after the incident …'
At the inquest proceeding that took place at the Kota Bahru Sessions Court in March 2016, the doctor who performed the autopsy went on to claim that there was low probability of Faris being murdered before he was hanged but was never queried on the injury to Wan Faris' back and buttock area.
'To cut a long story short, there is a mess or sheer incompetence in the conduct of the entire investigation process,' fumed Siti Kasim
'We must question the reluctance and hesitation by the relevant authorities to conduct investigation and reach a final verduct to a death more than a dozen years ago and the devastation endured by the victim's family.'
She added:
I'm unable to fathom how incidents of this nature continue to occur at (boarding) religious schools when the pupils are expected to be role models as they are exposed to religion and are even able to memorise the holy scripture.
But sadly, bullying and other undesirable incidents tend to be a trend at religious schools with the authorities doing their utmost best to cover up probably because they're embarrassed that such cases involve religious initiations.
I hope Wan Faris' family will eventually obtain justice like Zara … I urge social media influencers out there to revive this case so that the authorities concerned will pay attention to similar cases especially at boarding schools.
As it is, the exhumation of Zara's remains for a proper post-mortem is attributable to immense public pressure when an autopsy should have been automatically conducted.
There's a systemic problem in our country with the government having failed to inculcate professionalism in civil servants on the adherence of SOPs (standard operating procedures) or to prevent incidents of this nature from recurring. – Aug 11, 2025
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