July 2 hearing for Malaysiakini's bid to set aside leave to commence committal proceedings

Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd, which runs the news portal Malaysiakini and its editor-in-chief have filed an application to set aside the leave obtained by the Attorney-General (AG) to commence committal proceedings against them.

Lawyer A. Surendra Ananth, representing the two, said he filed the application yesterday.

He said the Federal Court has fixed July 2 to hear his client's application to set aside the leave order obtained by the AG.

Surendra Ananth said the hearing date was fixed when the matter came up for case management before a Federal Court deputy registrar which was conducted via e-review today.

He also said the hearing of his clients' application to set aside the leave has been fixed on the same day as the contempt proper hearing.

Senior federal counsel M. Kogilambigai appeared for the AG in the case management proceedings.

On June 17, the Federal Court three-member bench allowed AG Tan Sri Idrus Harun's ex parte application for leave to commence committal proceedings against Mkini Dotcom and Malaysiakini’s editor-in chief.

The bench allowed the leave application on grounds that a prima facie case for contempt was established.

The application was in relation to five comments on an article published by Malaysiakini on June 9 entitled "CJ orders all courts to be fully operational from July 1".

It was argued by senior federal counsel Alice Loke Yee Ching during court proceedings in the Federal Court on June 17 that the news portal allowed comments deemed to be offensive and embarrassing to the judiciary to be posted on the comment section of the article.

-- BERNAMA