Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR: The government has not replied to demand letters sent by Jill Ireland to return eight Christian CDs that contained the word “Allah” after a court order in July, said lawyer Annou Xavier.

“We have sent three demand letters to the Attorney-General’s Chambers to comply with the court order, but there was no reply at all,” he said.

Xavier said the Home Ministry could not retain the CDs just because it had filed a stay application.

He said his client was entitled to enjoy the success of her judicial review until that decision was set aside.

“My client wants to know the status of the CDs after the court ordered its return and quashed the Ministry’s decision to seize them,” he told The Malaysian Insider after attending a case management session to fix the date to hear the government’s application to stay the July 21 High Court order.

Judge Datuk Asmabi Mohamad will hear the application on Jan 22.

In August, Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi affirmed an affidavit that he would not return the CDs on grounds of public interest.

Judge Datuk Zaleha Yusof ordered the return of the CDs to the Melanau clerk, but did not set a time frame for it to be complied. She also ordered Putrajaya to pay the applicant RM5,000 in costs.

Xavier said he wrote letters on Aug 13 and 21, and Oct 21 to the government’s lawyers, seeking the return of the CDs. Ireland is also objecting to Putrajaya filing the stay application to withhold the CDs.

Ministry officials confiscated the CDs from Ireland at the then Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Sepang, Selangor in 2008 and this prompted Ireland to challenge the seizure in court.

Ireland’s legal team argued that this case was not about Christianity against Islam, but about her constitutional right as a bumiputera Christian.

Putrajaya is appealing against Zaleha’s ruling. Ireland also filed an appeal against the High Court decision which failed to address her constitutional right to use the word “Allah”, as the court had only ordered that the CDs confiscated from her be returned. Putrajaya’s and Ireland’s appeals are fixed for hearing in the Court of Appeal on Feb 10. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on December 3, 2014.

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