G25 gets leave to challenge book ban

A group of moderate former civil servants known as Group 25 (G25) has today been granted permission by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur to initiate a challenge on the ban of its book titled "Breaking the Silence: Voices of Moderation - Islam in a Constitutional Democracy".

The leave to formally challenge the book ban was granted by Justice Kamaludin Md Said.

G25's lawyers Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and Surendra Ananth said senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan from the Attorney-General's Chambers did not object to the leave application. 

Leave, or permission, is sought in judicial review proceedings first to make sure the challenge is not frivolous and vexatious.

The book which was published in Dec 2015 had its forward written by former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, while a copy was given to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak that same month.

However, the book was gazetted as banned by the Home Ministry on July 27 last year.

G25, led by Noor Farida Ariffin, filed the judicial review application last October for a court order (certiorari) to quash the book ban.

[More to follow]

- Mkini