Court of Appeal Registrar Must Reveal Reasons for Unusual Haste in Fixing Fitnah II Appeal dates

Subject: Press Statement: Court of Appeal Registrar Must Reveal Reasons for Unusual Haste in Fixing Fitnah II Appeal date

I refer to the appeal of the Fitnah II case by the BN government against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on 6 &7 March 2014.

We are disturbed by the unusual haste in which the March 6 &7 dates have been fixed.

The appeal had been fixed for case management on 28.2.2014. Anwar’s lawyers then received a call from the deputy registrar of the Court of Appeal (CoA) asking for free dates between March 7 and March 10, 2014. It should be noted that the dates insisted upon by the CoA are on the eve of the nomination day for the Kajang by-election. ( If Anwar is convicted, he would be disqualified from contesting the by election.)

On 28 February 2014, the court insisted on fixing March 6 &7 as the appeal dates. The dates were fixed despite Anwar’s lawyers stating that those are not their free dates. Why was the CoA in such a hurry to fix these dates?

More surprisingly, the CoA had on 12 Feb had allowed a stay of the Fitnah II appeal pending disposal of Anwar’s appeal to Federal Court on the application for Judy Pereira to be recalled.

Having granted the stay, why did the CoA rush to fix the appeal dates even before the Judy Pereira appeal was heard?

In fact, Anwar had up to 6 March to file his petition of appeal for the Judy Pereira appeal to the Federal Court. However in a highly unusual move, Shafee Abdullah filed an application to strike out the Judy Pereira appeal. More surprisingly the Federal Court allowed on 4th March the striking out of the Judy Pereira appeal, which decision was clearly wrong in law and in fact.

It should be remembered that the Fitnah II appeal is a matter of great public interest. The court must be candid and transparent in managing the Fitnah II appeal.

The Malaysian public has a right to fullest disclosure pertaining to this appeal.

We hereby call upon the Chief Registrar of the CoA to disclose the reasons for the hurried fixing of the Fitnah II appeal dates.

Issued by

N Surendran

Vice President Keadilan

&

Member of Parliament, Padang Serai