PUTRAJAYA, June 23 ― The Court of Appeal today ordered the Home Ministry to return the eight compact discs containing the word “Allah” to Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill within a month, chalking a win for the Sarawakian Christian after a seven-year legal battle.
“Consequent to our order in affirming relief, we will grant application by applicant that the publication be released within one month,” Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, the judge heading the Court of Appeal’s three-man panel, said.
The other judges are Datuk Seri Zakaria Sam and Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim.
Jill Ireland’s lawyer Lim Heng Seng later confirmed, however, that the government can still apply for a stay of the order to release the CDs.
But Lim said any application for a stay will be contested.
“They can always apply on the grounds they are asking for leave to appeal to the Federal Court and the court will decide whether there are special circumstances to deny Jill Ireland the right to use her CDs.
“She has been denied long enough, since 2008. So it will be contested if they ask for stay. Jill Ireland should be allowed to have her CDs,” he told reporters after the court’s decision, adding that the Melanau native from Sarawak needed the Christian materials for her personal study.
Government lawyer Shamsul Bolhassan confirmed that he will have to wait for instructions on whether to file an appeal.
Rev Dr Justin Wan, the president of SIB Sarawak, expressed hope that the case will finally be settled when the CDs are returned to church member Jill Ireland.
“We will go another round until they complete (it),” he said when asked about the possibility of the government filing an appeal at the Federal Court and again withholding the CDs.
The government had previously applied to keep the CDs despite a High Court defeat and pending the outcome of the appeal today.
On May 11, 2008, the Home Ministry confiscated eight CDs bearing the word “Allah” from Jill Ireland at the Sepang airport upon her return from Indonesia, prompting her to file for judicial review in August the same year against the Home Minister and government of Malaysia.
Last July 21, High Court judge Datuk Zaleha Yusof ruled that the Home Ministry was wrong to detain the CDs based on a point of law, also ordering the government to return the CDs and pay RM5,000 in legal costs.
But the Home Ministry appealed on July 22 against the ruling, while Jill Ireland filed an appeal on August 18 as the High Court did not address constitutional issues that were raised in her judicial review application.
Jill Ireland had sought declarations that it is her constitutional right to import publications in the practice of Christianity and that she is entitled to use the word “Allah”, among other matters.
Source: www.themalaymailonline.com
