Appeals Court rules ban on Bersih 4 T-shirts ‘unreasonable’

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has ruled the Home Minister's ban on Bersih 4 yellow T-shirts and pamphlets as invalid.

Court of Appeal judge Justice Mohd Zawawi Salleh made the decision after allowing the appeal by Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah (pic) and steering committee members Masjaliza Hamzah and Fadiah Nadwa Fikri to quash the ban.

Justice Mohd Zawawi, who chaired a three-man panel, ruled that the order by the minister in the run-up to last year's Bersih 4 rally was "unreasonable".

He said that the reason given for the ban by the Home Minister in his affidavit involved events which had yet to occur.

Other judges on the panel were Justices Abdul Rahman Sebli and Asmabi Mohamad.

Maria, Masjaliza and Fadiah Nadwa had named the Home Minister and the Government as respondents.

They had filed an appeal against the Shah Alam High Court’s decision on Feb 19, which stated that Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had acted appropriately when issuing an order to ban Bersih 4 T-shirts.