KUALA LUMPUR: The trial of Vivian Lee, the former girlfriend of controversial blogger, Alvin Tan, who is facing a charge of insulting Muslims and the month of Ramadan will continue in the Sessions Court on July 13.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Yong Anne Nee told Judge Abdul Rashid Daud that the proceedings would go on without the presence of Tan, 27, in court.
Tan failed to appear in court for the first time on June 13 last year when the case was mentioned.
The court issued an arrest warrant against him after he failed to return his passport to it while on bail. He has asked the court to return the passport tp him for the purpose of shooting a documentary film in Singapore.
He was again absent in today's proceedings.
Yong said the charge against Lee, 26, still stood and the prosecution would produce four or five witnesses.
However, lawyer Nur Adila Kamar Zaman, representing Lee, applied to the court to set another date for mention on the grounds that her client would apply to postpone the trial.
She said the application was also pending law lecturer, Azmi Shahrom's appeal against sedition charges in the Federal Court.
However, the judge rejected the application and set hearing for three days beginning July 13.
On Feb 18, the Federal Court freed Tan and Lee of one charge for allegedly stirring hostility between people of various faiths through their acts of uploading an image insulting Muslims during the month of Ramadan, through social networking site Facebook.
They were initially slapped with three charges. Following the Federal Court decision, the other two charges against them remained intact.
They were charged under the Sedition Act for posting a photograph with the caption 'Selamat Berbuka Puasa (with Bak Kut Teh...fragrant, delicious and appetising)' on Facebook.
The other charge was for displaying pornographic images on their Facebook page. - Bernama
