PUTRAJAYA, Sept 2 – The Federal Court today adjourned the hearing of an appeal by the Home Ministry against the High Court’s decision to release blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin from two-year detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA) to a date to be fixed.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah informed the panel led by Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria, that the prosecution had not served the notice of appeal on Raja Petra, the reason for his absence today.
Justice Arifin who sat with Federal Court justices Datuk Hashim Yusof and Tan Sri James Foong Cheng Yuen granted the prosecution’s application to adjourn the appeal as they had not served the notice on Raja Petra, who is the editor of the web portal Malaysia-Today.
When asked by Justice Hashim on the chances of serving the notice on Raja Petra, Tun Majid replied: “Raja Petra’s address is still unknown”.
Raja Petra’s counsel Malik Imtiaz Sarwar told the court that the appeal had become academic because the minister’s order to detain him for two years had already expired.
“The matter is academic but it’s nothing to stop the minister to issue a new order as it’s already two years,” he said.
Tun Majid replied that the minister’s order would become academic after September 21, 2010.
Speaking to reporters later, Tun Majid said the prosecution did not know Raja Petra’s whereabouts as his right address was not known to the prosecution.
On November 7, 2008, the Shah Alam High Court ordered the release of Raja Petra from ISA detention after ruling that his two-year detention at the Kamunting detention camp in Taiping was unlawful.
Raja Petra was arrested on September 12, 2008 as he was deemed a threat to national security and the order to detain him under the ISA was issued on September 22, 2008.
Raja Petra was detained on the grounds that he, among others, owned and operated the Malaysia-Today website and had intentionally and recklessly published his articles and also readers’ comments on Malaysia Today that were critical of and insulted Muslims, the purity of Islam and the personality of Prophet Muhammad.
In filing the habeas corpus application, Raja Petra had named the Home Minister as the respondent. – Bernama
