Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali says that the government is appealing the High Court's ruling against the suspension of The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, September 23, 2015.
Putrajaya is appealing the High Court's ruling against the suspension of The Edge's two newspapers, Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali confirmed today.
The move comes two days after the court on Monday quashed the Home Ministry's order to suspend The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily for three months beginning July 27.
Apandi in a WhatsApp message to The Malaysian Insider said "Yes", when asked to confirm that the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) would appeal against the court's decision and also file a stay against the order.
AGC also filed an application to stop the publisher from resuming publication of both newspapers pending the outcome of its appeal in the Court of Appeal.
The application was filed in the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday but no dates have been fixed for hearing.
Lawyers familiar with such application said the matter would be heard before the same judge who heard the judicial review application.
AGC could also file a fresh application in the Court of Appeal if a stay was refused in the High Court.
The Edge Financial Daily resumed its print publication immediately after the High Court's decision, putting out its first issue yesterday.
High Court Judge Datuk Asmabi Mohamad on Monday allowed the media group's judicial review, the first time in Malaysia a media publisher is seeking legal recourse against such orders by the Home Minister.
Asmabi said the minister did not comply with "procedural fairness as he did not give particulars of the suspension", and breached Section 7 (1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.
The two publications were suspended for their critical coverage of state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
But Asmabi said the respondent (home minister) made a "blanket allegation" without specifying the articles that were alleged to be "undesirable publications".
She said the publisher was put in a "difficult position" as it had published 300 articles since 2009 on 1MDB and could not give a specific response to the general claim in the show-cause letter.
Asmabi said the minister also failed to respond to the publisher's request to specify the questionable articles.
- TMI
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