Community stands by family during Zara Qairina’s exhumation

9 Aug 2025 • 6:56 PM MYT
Daily Express
Daily Express

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By: Hayati Dzulkifli

SIPITANG: Around 100 residents, including relatives of 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir, gathered at Tanjung Ubi Muslim Cemetery in Kampung Mesapol on Saturday despite persistent rain to witness the exhumation of her body.

They waited outside the burial grounds under umbrellas as police restricted entry to the area.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Jauteh Dikun led the police team, joined by family lawyers Hamid Ismail and Shahlan Jufri, a magistrate,Sabah Islamic Affairs Department officers, and the cemetery committee, arriving at about 5pm.

window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.defineSlot('/22826383987/dailyexpress_inline', [1, 1], 'gpt-passback').addService(googletag.pubads());googletag.enableServices();googletag.display('gpt-passback');});Zara’s parents, including her father Mahathir Hashim, and her grandparent were also present during the process, which began at 5.30pm and was still underway at press time.

Preliminary information indicated the body would be sent to a district hospital, with Zara having been pronounced dead on July 17 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu, a day after she was found unconscious in a drain near her school hostel in Papar.