THE Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed a petition for leave application for a judicial review to challenge the Attorney-General (AG) decision in not prosecuting two Muslim preachers for allegedly insulting non-Muslim religions.
In a verdict delivered via Zoom, Justice Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid said that the petitioners, S Sivakumar and M Rajasegaran, had failed to prove mala fide on the part of the AG in its decision to not prosecute the case.
He added that the petitioners also failed to rebut the legality of the AG’s decision on the matter.
“However, I concur that the petitioners have locus standi on the case as per the videos and other materials provided as proof of evidence,” Wan Ahmad said.
In October last year, Sivakumar and Rajasegaran filed a leave application to declare that the AG’s decision to not charge Muslim preachers Firdaus Wong and Zamri Vinoth Kalimuthu, as recorded by the magistrates’ court, was invalid and must be quashed.
Court of Appeal next
The duo also wanted to obtain a court order to compel the AG to prosecute the preachers, who are said to be linked to fugitive Islamic preacher Dr Zakir Naik.
The leave application was filed after deputy public prosecutor Ainul Amirah told the magistrate court that the Attorney-General had no plans to prosecute Zamri and Firdaus.
Ainul added that the AG was unwilling to prosecute the preachers as police had classified their cases as “no further action”.
On related matter, Global Human Rights Federation (GHRF) president S Shashi Kumar said that Sivakumar and Rajasegaran, who are also leaders of the NGO, would file an appeal on the decision.
“We will go to the Court of Appeal. This is unjust,” he told FocusM. — April 12, 2022
