PUTRAJAYA: The Government can proceed with its appeal against a Court of Appeal decision striking down a provision in the Sedition Act 1948. This follows a ruling by the Federal Court made on Wednesday to grant the Government leave to appeal against the decision made by the Court of Appeal last November which declares that section 3(3) of the Act is unconstitutional. Federal Court judges Justice Abu Samah Nordin and Justice Zaharah Ibrahim were the other two judges presiding with Zulkefli. The effect of the Court of Appeal ruling is that the prosecution now has to prove the intent of the accused before a person can be convicted of sedition. Mat Shuhaimi brought the constitutional challenge against the Sedition Act after he was charged with sedition on Feb 7 2011 for a blog posting he allegedly made on Dec 30 2010.

Source: The Star February 22, 2017 08:41 UTC