Shoe-throwing imam's appeal put off to Monday

A five-member bench of the Federal Court in Putrajaya today postponed an application by imam Hoslan Husin to review his one-year jail sentence for contempt of court.

This is because it was only this morning that all parties to the case were given the written judgment on his jailing.

Today's panel led by Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria then fixed the matter to be heard at 2pm on Monday to give enough time for all parties to study the judgment.

Defence counsel Karpal Singh has asked for a short adjournment to study the ruling.

"Although it is dated April 5, we only obtained it this morning. We need time to study the judgment and work on our submission," Karpal argued.

DPP Noorin Badaruddin, who appeared for the prosecution, concurred.

Justice Arifin admitted that some members of the bench as well sighted the judgment only today.

"Following this, we allow the postponement to Monday," he said.

The others in the panel are Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Richard Malanjum and Federal Court judges Abdull Hamid Embong, Ahmad Maarop and Zainun Ali.

Hoslan, 47, was on March 8 ordered to be jailed for a year by a three-member bench of the Federal Court, led by Chief Judge of Malaya Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin, who found him guilty of contempt.

This came after the imam flung his shoes at the judges on Feb 22, after he lost his appeal against an eviction order issued by the Federal Court on an application from the Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department.

[More to follow]