PUTRAJAYA: The Attorney General (AG) has the power to choose the venue for a trial involving 13 individuals who are charged with the kidnapping of a Palestinian man linked to mobile phone hacking, the Court of Appeal said.
A three-judge panel, chaired by Justice Che Mohd Ruzima Ghazali, unanimously ruled that the AG was constitutionally empowered to choose the High Court where the 12 men and a woman would stand trial.
"The prosecutor's power under Article 145 of the Federal Constitution is quite wide to initiate (criminal) cases at any court except for the syariah and military courts,” Justice Che Mohd Ruzima said here on Wednesday (Aug 7).
Other judges on the bench were Justices Azman Abdullah and Azmi Ariffin.
The appellate court then ordered for the Kuala Lumpur High Court to conduct the full trial on the case.
The prosecution was appealing against the High Court's decision that transferred the case to the Sessions Court.
The 13 individuals were first charged at the Magistrate's Court in October 2022.
They are Edy Ko'im Said, 40; Mohamad Norakmal Hassan, 41; Dody Junaidi, 42; Tengku Arif Bongsu Tengku Hamid, 39; Mohamad Naziree Mustapha, 39; Faizull Hardey Mohd Isa, 40; Muhammad Iqmal Abdul Rahis, 25; Mohamad Sufian Saly, 23; Muhammad Al Hatim Mohd Fauzi, 21; Nidarahayu Zainal, 34; Raibafie Amdan, 39; Mohd Zaidi Mohd Zain, 56; and Tengku Hazarul Ismail Tengku Hamid, 51.
According to the charge, they allegedly detained Omar Z. M. Albelbaisy Raeda with a common intention to obtain secret information on deactivating computer software used to hack mobile phones.
They were accused of committing the act on Jalan Mayang here at 10.40pm on Sept 28 and charged under Section 3 of the Kidnapping Act 1961, read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which provides for the death penalty or life imprisonment and whipping if convicted.
In December last year, the High Court allowed the case to be transferred and tried in the Sessions Court.
On Jan 19, the charge was read out again in the Sessions Court and they applied for bail but it was dismissed.
