AG contests ruling favouring Sarawak Christian in ‘Allah’ CD case

By admin-s On Jul 22, 2014

(MMO) – The Attorney General’s (AG) Chambers is appealing a High Court decision faulting the Home Ministry for confiscating Christian CDs with the word “Allah”, which belong to a Sarawak Christian.

Annou Xavier, the lawyer for Sarawak native Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill, told The Malay Mail Online, that he was informed of the move earlier today.

“I can confirm we received the notice of appeal filed at the Court of Appeal’s registry today,” said Xavier when contacted.

Jill Ireland, a Sarawak-born Christian, sued the Home Ministry and the government of Malaysia for seizing eight compact discs bearing the word “Allah” on May 11, 2008, at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal airport in Sepang.

Yesterday, Justice Datuk Zaleha Yusof ruled that only the minister has discretionary powers to prohibit imports of any material seen as prejudicial to public and national interests, asserting that the authority cannot be delegated to any officer.

Zaleha said the officer who executed the seizure, Customs superintendent Suzana Muin, had overstepped her powers by deciding to permanently withhold the CDs — even with the approval of the minister — as such an order can only be made by the minister as provided for under Section 9 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

The judge also ordered the ministry to return all eight CDs to Jill and for the ministry to pay RM5,000 in costs.

Zaleha did not address, however, nine other points raised in Jill’s application for judicial review.