Zunar takes travel ban challenge to Federal Court

Cartoonist Zunar has filed an application at the Federal Court to challenge a travel ban first imposed on him by the government in Oct 2016.

Zunar, the pen name of Zulkiflee SM Anwar Ulhaque, filed his application yesterday through law firm Daim and Gamany.

“(This is) in order to challenge the constitutionality of Section 59 and Section 59A of the Immigration Act 1959/1963,” said his lawyer Latheefa Koya in a statement.

The former section concerns the “exclusion of the right to be heard” and disallows a person from being heard on an immigration decision. The latter concerns the “exclusion of judicial review” and states that immigration decisions are exempt from judicial review.

The application was made pursuant to Article 4(4) of the Federal Constitution, which said provisions were unconstitutional and void on the ground that the Parliament has no power to pass the said provisions.

Latheefa added that the relevant provisions in the Immigration Act 1959/1963 “violate Article 5(1) (of the constitution when) read with Article 8(1) and Article 69(2)”.

Article 5(1) of the Federal Constitution stipulates that persons shall be deprived of neither their lives nor personal liberty, while Article 8(1) states that all persons are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection of the law.

Zunar previously filed a challenge against the ban in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, but the court later dismissed his application. - Mkini