Rewcastle-Brown's appeal against conviction for case management on May 7

KUALA TERENGGANU: The High Court here today fixed May 7 for case management of an appeal by founder and editor of Sarawak Report Clare Rewcastle-Brown to set aside her conviction and two-year prison sentence for defaming the Sultanah of Terengganu, Sultanah Nur Zahirah.

High Court Deputy Registrar Nordiana Abd Aziz set the date when the case came up for mention today.

Lawyer Guok Ngek Seong, representing Rewcastle-Brown, when contacted by Bernama said he would apply to the court for the appeal proceedings to be conducted in absentia (without the presence of the accused) on the grounds that his client, who is a British citizen, is not in Malaysia.

Previously, the trial of the case in the Magistrate's Court was also conducted without the presence of the accused.

Last Feb 7, Rewcastle-Brown was sentenced to two years in prison by the Magistrate's Court here after finding her guilty of defaming Sultanah Nur Zahirah under Section 500 of the Penal Code.

According to the charges, Rewcastle-Brown, who has a London, United Kingdom address, wrote a book titled "The Sarawak Report - The Inside Story of 1MDB Expose" which contains accusations against the Sultanah of Terengganu.

The specific defamatory content, highlighted on page three, paragraph four, and line seven, was the phrase "the wife of the Sultan," which was deemed a deliberate act aimed at tarnishing the reputation of Sultanah Nur Zahirah.

She was charged with committing the offence at 8 am, Sept 14, 2018, at Lot 60048, Taman Chendering Utama here.

-- BERNAMA