KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 — Bersatu Information Committee member Badrul Hisham Shaharin, or Chegu Bard, has filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal against the gag order issued by two High Courts to restrain him from issuing any statements or comments on his ongoing defamation and sedition case.
His lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali said the appeal was filed on Thursday (May 23).
"We want to get instructions from the Court of Appeal whether the decisions by the High Courts in Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur High Courts are right or not in terms of law because, in our opinion, although the freedom of speech is not absolute, it must give enough space to an accused person," he told the press at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex today.
Earlier, during the proceeding before Sessions Court Judge Siti Aminah Ghazali, the court fixed July 11 for case management of Chegu Bard's case on two counts of inciting and issuing defamatory remarks that would tarnish the good name of His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, the King of Malaysia.
On May 14, the Kuala Lumpur High Court issued a gag order against Chegu Bard to prevent him from making statements or comments about his ongoing criminal defamation case, while the Johor Bahru High Court issued a similar order on May 20.
On April 29 this year, the 45-year-old pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court to publishing a seditious publication on his Facebook page in Taman Bukit Cheras at 12.15pm on April 6.
He was also charged with issuing defamatory statements, with reason to believe that the defamatory statements would damage the good name of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
The offence was allegedly committed at the Office of the Comptroller of Istana Negara at 6pm on January 22.
The charge was framed under Section 500 of the Penal Code which provides imprisonment for up to two years or a fine or both, if convicted.
On April 30, Chegu Bard pleaded not guilty in the Johor Bahru Sessions Court to a charge of issuing seditious remarks related to the casino project in Forest City.
He was alleged to have made the seditious remarks on his Facebook account under the name ‘Che GuBard’ at Mutiara Villa Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, at 6.30pm on April 26.
The charge, framed under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948 (Act 15), provides a maximum fine of RM5,000 or imprisonment not exceeding three years or both, if found guilty.
— Bernama
