The appellant was not legally obligated to disclose information regarding the potential terrorist act under the applicable statutes.

[1] The appellant was charged and tried at the Kuala Lumpur High Court for an offence of omitting to disclose information pertaining to a terrorist act. The charge read as follows:

"Bahawa kamu, di antara bulan Ogos 2015 sehingga 22 Mac 2016, di Balai Polis Petaling Jaya, di Ibu Pejabat Daerah Petaling Jaya, dalam Daerah Petaling, dalam Negeri Selangor, yang mempunyai sebab untuk mempercayai bahawa suatu perbuatan keganasan iaitu kesalahan yang boleh dihukum di bawah s 130JA Kanun Keseksaan akan dilakukan, meninggalkan dengan sengaja daripada memberi apa-apa maklumat berkenaan dengan kesalahan itu, yang kamu terikat di sisi undang-undang untuk memberi, dan oleh itu kamu telah melakukan satu kesalahan yang boleh dihukum di bawah s 130M Kanun yang sama."

[2] After full trial, the High Court found the appellant guilty and sentenced her to seven years' imprisonment, the maximum term allowed by law. The sentence was ordered to run from the date of her arrest, ie on 22 March 2016. The conviction and sentence were upheld by the Court of Appeal on 8 November 2017. Aggrieved by the impugned conviction and sentence, the appellant has now appealed to this Court.

[3] We have heard learned counsel for the appellant and learned Deputy Public Prosecutor ("DPP") at some length. We have also perused the written submissions carefully and examined the records available before us in its entirety. For the reasons that follow, we found that there was merit in this appeal and accordingly, we allowed the appellant's appeal and quashed the conviction and sentence.

Factual Background And The Antecedent Proceedings

[4] Briefly stated, the case against the appellant was that she possessed information about the plans of two individuals, ie Nor Azimah Adnan ("SP1") and one Abdul Ghani Yaacob to travel to Syria and to commit terrorist acts by joining the military movement of the Islamic State ("IS"). The appellant was alleged to have been in possession of this information as early as August 2015. However, she withheld the information from her superiors. The prosecution adduced evidence that Abdul Ghani bin Yaacob had travelled to Syria and was killed in a battle at the Al Khair province.

[5] The appellant was a Policewoman with the rank of corporal, stationed at the Petaling Jaya District Police Headquarters. She was allegedly drawn to the conflict in Syria via Facebook in 2013. She also had networking ties with several other IS militants such as Abu Syamil and Fudhail Omar through social media platforms. She was reprimanded and advised by an officer from the Bukit Aman Special Branch not to be involved with the terrorist group.

[6] At the trial, it was established that sometime in August 2015, the appellant was informed by her Facebook acquaintance, Nor Azimah binti Adnan ("SP1"), also nicknamed Umi Diyana, of her impending marriage to Abdul Ghani bin Yaacob and their travel plans to Syria to join the IS which was a terrorist related offence punishable under s 130JA of the Penal Code . Abdul Ghani was known as "Abu Kedah" among the members of IS.

[7] Sometime in September 2015, SP1 arranged for the appellant to meet with "Abu Kedah" and during the said meeting, "Abu Kedah" had informed the appellant of his intention to travel to Syria with SP1. SP1 testified that she had received a text message from "Abu Kedah" through "Whatsapp" application informing SP1 that the appellant had also aspired to go to Syria but her intention was aborted due to financial problems. SP1's plan to travel to Syria did not materialise because her marriage with "Abu Kedah" only lasted for five days and she was involved in a road accident in November 2015.

[8] The appellant's cautioned statements were tendered and marked as exh P6(a) to P6(e