Document expert insists journal entries written by Zara

On July 17, 2025, Zara Qairina Mahathir passed away at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, after being found unconscious in a drain near her school dormitory. Zara, who was 13 years old at the time, had been discovered by her dormitory staff at around 4 am. The inquest into her death will continue on October 5.

Nurul Atiqah Noh, a document examiner from the chemistry department, testified today that the handwritten entries in journals labelled "W2" and "W3", believed to belong to Zara, were indeed written by the teenager. Atiqah's conclusion remained unchanged after she conducted her first and second examinations of the materials submitted as exhibits.

Despite differing opinions from two other forensic document and handwriting experts, Linthini Gannetion and Tay Eue Kam, Atiqah maintained her stance that all the disputed handwriting was written by Zara, as quoted by Bernama. Atiqah explained that document examinations are conducted using comparison methods based on established international standards, while acknowledging that different instruments might be used by examiners.