AG allowed to include notes from magistrates’ court in application against duo

 

Plaintiff S Shashi Kumar (second from left, in suit) talking to a crowd which gathered outside the Shah Alam magistrates’ court at an earlier hearing.

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has allowed a government application to include the notes of proceeding from a Shah Alam magistrates’ court in a judicial review application filed to challenge the attorney-general’s discretion not to prosecute two Muslim converts for allegedly insulting non-Islamic faiths.

Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly said judge Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid allowed the attorney-general to file an affidavit on the proceedings with regard to private prosecution.

Hanir, who attended the virtual proceeding, said the affidavit had to be filed before the next case management on Oct 7.

Magistrate Mohamad Redza Azhar Rezali had, on Sept 3, dismissed the application by a former air steward to begin private prosecution against Firdaus Wong Wai Hung and Muhammad Zamri Vinoth Kalimuthu because the attorney-general had decided against filing charges against them.

Redza said S Shashi Kumar’s complaint could not be entertained as Firdaus and Zamri had allegedly committed a seizable offence and private prosecution under Section 133 of the Criminal Procedure Code was not applicable.

In the judicial review application, S Sivakumar and M Rajasegaran want a declaration that the attorney-general’s decision not to charge Firdaus and Zamri, as recorded by the magistrates’ court, was invalid and must be quashed.

They also want an order from the court for the attorney-general to file charges against the duo, said to be linked to controversial preacher Zakir Naik.

Lawyer T Gunaseelan and Keshwinjit Singh represented the two applicants, who must first obtain leave from the court before the merits of the case can be heard.

The action was filed after deputy public prosecutor Ainul Amirah told the magistrate that the attorney-general had no plans to prosecute Zamri and Firdaus.

Ainul said the attorney-general was unwilling to prosecute Perlis-based preacher Zamri and Multiracial Reverted Muslims founder and president Firdaus as police had classified their cases as “no further action”. - FMT