Court of Appeal to study classified report on missing activist

The Court of Appeal wants the government to produce the classified special task force report over the disappearance of activist Amri Che Mat for the court in an attempt to assess its contents.

Judge Kamaludin Md Said, who chaired the three-man panel, made the order that will enable the court to decide whether the content of the report would put national security and police at risk.

The panel, also comprising judges Hashim Hamzah and Azizul Azmi Adnan, made the order during the hearing of the government’s appeal against the decision of the High Court in granting the limited release of the report - which is classified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972 - to Amri’s wife.

Earlier, Azizul said he and his fellow judges would go through the document in their chambers without the presence of any parties.

“Is there any reason why the document cannot be made available to us or for us to have a look at the document on camera without disclosing the document to the respondent?” he asked senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly who is appearing for the government.

Ahmad Hanir said he would produce the document only for the judges and would comply with the procedures under the OSA Act.

Kamaludin then fixed Dec 13 for case management before the Court of Appeal deputy registrar for the appeal.

Wife’s civil suit

In today's proceeding conducted online, the court heard submissions from Ahmad Hanir who argued that the High Court was wrong to make an order for limited disclosure of the report to Amri’s wife Norhayati Mohd Ariffin.

He said the High Court judge did not make an order for the report to be produced before him for the judge to examine.

Norhayati Mohd Ariffin and missing husband Amri Che Mat

On May 9 this year, High Court judge Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh allowed Norhayati’s judicial review application and ordered the limited release of the report to her to be used in the civil suit filed in November 2019 against 21 parties - including the government and the police - over the alleged failure to effectively investigate her husband's alleged abduction.

He also made an order prohibiting Norhayati and her lawyers from disclosing the report to any third parties.

Norhayati’s lawyer A Surendra Ananth told the court that the trial of his client’s civil suit will resume on Feb 29 next year before the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

- Bernama