KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice-president Tian Chua and activists Hishamuddin Rais and Adam Adli Abd Halim lost their bid at the High Court here to have the sedition case against them dismissed.
In his judgment, Justice Azman Husin said Monday that, after hearing the application and submissions and reading the affidavits, the court found the case was the same as Tian Chua's other sedition case.
The case referred to by Azman is Tian Chua's ongoing sedition case regarding comments made in 2013 over the Lahad Datu intrusion.
"The court finds the application has no merit at this point and dismisses the appeal," said Azman.
He added that the appeal would be returned to the Sessions Court for trial.
Meanwhile, outside the court, lawyer N. Surendran said they would be filing an appeal directly to the Federal Court this week.
"We will fight this case to the end. It is certainly selective persecution of the Opposition," added Surendran.
When asked asked for his response, Tian Chua said:
"I think we have been abusing the Sedition Act, to the extent that when we have glaring examples of people provoking disunity and racial sentiments, we see no action taken," said Chua.
Tian Chua, Hishamuddin and Adam Adli had filed their application in Aug 2013, and the application was heard on Jan 29 this year.
On May 29 last year, the 49-year old Batu MP was charged with making seditious remarks at a forum at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall here. The incident had allegedly taken place on May 13, 2013 between 8.55pm and 11.15pm.
Hishamuddin, 62, was charged a day earlier while Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris(UPSI) student Adam, 25, was charged on May 23.
Both were alleged to have committed the same offence at the same place.
On Sept 13 last year, the Sessions Court had made a decision for separate hearings of the cases, and the High Court upheld the decision on Oct 23.
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