Contempt motion to be filed against Hisham

Lawyers who claimed they had obtained an interim court order to stop the deportation of Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari will now file a motion for contempt against Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein who has publicly denied knowledge of the injunction.

The motion for contempt will be filed at the High Court by the team of lawyers who petitioned a High Court judge on Sunday afternoon for an injunction against Hamza’s deportation.

Hamza was believed to have been spirited out of the country back to Saudi Arabia in spite of members of the NGO, Lawyers for Liberty, having obtained and served the court order on the police force and immigration.   

Hamza was being sought by authorities in his home country after he allegedly tweeted messages that Saudi Arabia’s religious establishment consider defamatory to Islam.

The authorities had branded his postings the work of an “infidel”, an accusation that could land him the death penalty.

Hamza fled the country and decamped to Malaysia where he was detained while he was in transit, before authorities turned him over to Saudi security personnel.    

Judge Rohana Yusof of the High Court had issued the interim order at her home on Sunday afternoon after the submission of an application and affidavit in support.  Lawyers Fadia Nadwa and Ragunath Kesavan, a former Bar Council president, appeared on behalf of Hamza.

Lawyer N Surendran, who is a PKR vice-president, was also involved in the preparation of the apllication for the injunction.

Hearing of Home Minister Hishamuddin’s denial this morning of knowledge of the injunction, Surendran told Malaysiakini: “His denial is extremely prejudicial and detrimental to the administration of justice.”

He said once the legal team from Lawyers for Liberty had obtained the injunction from Judge Rohana and faxed the order to the police and immigration, Malaysian authorities were duty-bound to stay Hamza’s deportation.

The Lawyers for Liberty team had intended to file a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of Hamza at the High Court tomorrow when the court injunction would have expired.

Instead they will now file a motion of contempt against the home minister for disobeying the court order to stop Hamza’s deportation.