KUALA TERENGGANU: The High Court here has set aside the conviction and jail sentence of Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown (pic) for defamation.
Justice Mohd Radzi Harun declared that the trial in absentia previously conducted by the Magistrate’s Court against the 66-year-old was a mistrial.
“As this court had declared a mistrial, the charge against the appellant (Rewcastle-Brown) still subsists and the criminal principle of autrefois acquit autre convict does not apply in favour of the appellant,” he said in his judgment yesterday, Bernama reported.
Unless the public prosecutor decides otherwise within his powers, Justice Mohd Radzi ordered the case be mentioned before a new magistrate with a view that a retrial to be held on the same charge against Rewcastle-Brown.
Justice Mohd Radzi also ordered the magistrate to re-summon the witnesses of the prosecution and record their evidence in the absence of the appellant.
The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutors Azizan Abdullah, Mohd Khairuddin Idris and Nor Aishah Mohamad.
Rewcastle-Brown, who was absent, was represented by lawyer Guok Ngek Seong.
On Feb 7, 2024, Rewcastle-Brown was sentenced to two years’ jail in absentia by the Kuala Terengganu Magistrate’s Court after being found guilty of defaming the Sultanah of Terengganu, Sultanah Nur Zahirah, under Section 500 of the Penal Code.
Magistrate Nik Mohd Tarmizie Nik Mohd Shukri ordered the sentence against Rewcastle-Brown to commence from the date of her conviction.
However, she filed a notice of appeal at the Kuala Terengganu High Court seeking to set aside both her conviction and the sentence.
Her lawyer, when met by reporters, said the court had also agreed with the defence’s previous submissions, which among other things stated that for any criminal charge, the accused must be brought to court to be charged.
“After that, if the accused does not appear before or during the trial, the court will determine whether it is fair or not to proceed in absentia... that is what we raised before,” he said.
When asked whether his client would appear at the retrial of the case at the Magistrate’s Court later, Guok said the matter of extraditing the editor would be difficult as there is no formal extradition treaty between Malaysia and the United Kingdom.
