Prosecution to call 14 witnesses in Alvin-Vivian case

A total of 14 witnesses will be called to testify in the trial of controversial blogger, Alvin Tan and his former girlfriend Vivian Lee, who were charged with insulting Muslims and the holy month of Ramadan, two years ago.

They include two forensic experts from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, who will testify as the prosecution witnesses in the four-day trial, scheduled to begin on Nov 23.

The trial was supposed to begin today before Sessions Court Judge Abdul Rashid Daud, but was postponed after the court allowed an application by counsel Wiliam Siau Vui Leong, who represented Lee, 26.

Siau applied for a postponement of the trial on the grounds of a pending Federal Court decision on an appeal against the Sedition Act faced by law lecturer, Associate Professor Dr Azmi Sharom, because his client was charged under the same act.

Earlier deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin told the court that the prosecution was ready to proceed with the trial and said there was no problem in the case involving Azmi which had not been decided at Federal Court.

"There is no problem because even though Azmi's case has not been decided, it did not involve any prejudice on any parties.

"Even if the Sedition Act was decided as unconstitutional, the charge under Sedition Act against the accused (Lee) can be dropped at any time during trial," he said.

Wan Shaharuddin also told the court that the Attorney-General's Chamber had also rejected an application by the defendant to withdraw the charge against Lee as Tan was not present in court.

Meanwhile, when asked on the latest development on Tan, Wan Shaharuddin said the man was always on Facebook but did not dare to return to Malaysia.

On March 6, the court ordered the hearing against Lee to proceed in the absence of Tan. Tan failed to attend court for the first time on June 13 last year when the case came up for mention.

On Feb 18, the Federal Court freed the couple from a charge of creating enmity between the devotees of other religions after uploading pictures which insulted Muslims during Ramadan on their Facebook page.

Initially, they faced three charges but following the Federal Court decision, two charges against Tan, whose full name is Tan Jye Yee, and Lee, or Lee May Ling, stayed.

They were charged under the Sedition Act for displaying a picture with the caption 'Selamat Berbuka Puasa (with Bak Kut Teh...fragrant, delicious and appetizing)' on Facebook at 568-14-18, Kompleks Mutiara, 3 1/2 Mile, Jalan Ipoh, here, at 10.48 pm between July 11 and 12 2013.

Another charge was under subsection 5(1) of the Film Censorship Act 2002, for displaying a pornographic picture in their Facebook site between 9 pm on July 6 2013 and 2 am on July 7, 2013.