KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown has filed an appeal to set aside her conviction and two-year prison sentence for defaming Sultanah Nur Zahirah, the Sultanah of Terengganu.

The London-based journalist filed her appeal to the High Court through her lawyers at Messrs Guok Partnership on Thursday, a day after the Kuala Terengganu Magistrate's court sentenced her in absentia in her criminal defamation case.

"In the notice of appeal, [Rewcastle-Brown] is also seeking for the court to exercise supervisory and revisionary powers to set aside the order," lawyer Guok Ngek Seong, who is representing the investigative portal's founder, told The Edge when contacted.

On Wednesday, Magistrate Nik Mohd Tarmizie Nik Mohd Shukri found Rewcastle-Brown guilty of defamation and ordered her prison sentence to start immediately. It was reported that the court found that the prosecution had proven a prima facie case against her.

Rewcastle-Brown was charged in absentia with criminal defamation in September 2021. She was charged under Section 500 of the Penal Code, which states that whoever defames another can be jailed up to two years, or fined, or both. An arrest warrant was also issued against her.

Previously, the journalist's counsels had sent two letters of representations to the Attorney General’s Chambers seeking to drop the charge. However, they were both rejected.

The case revolves around a passage in the book titled The Sarawak Report: The Inside Story of the 1MDB Exposé.

Sultanah Nur Zahirah, the wife of the Sultan of Terengganu, had also filed a RM100 million civil suit against Rewcastle-Brown and two others over the same alleged offence, claiming she had been defamed in Rewcastle-Brown’s book via this passage: “Jho (fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low) was also friendly with a key player in Terengganu, the wife of the Sultan, whose acquiescence was needed to set up the fund and he later cited her support as having been crucial to his obtaining the advisory position”.

The Sultanah alleged that Rewcastle-Brown’s statement was disparaging to her, and that it could be taken to mean that she was involved in corrupt practices, and interfered with the state’s administration.

On Oct 31, 2022, The High Court dismissed the Sultanah's suit on the grounds that the statement in question was not defamatory. However, the appellate court allowed the Sultanah's appeal last December. A three-member panel found that the impugned statement was indeed defamatory and awarded damages of RM300,000 and cost of RM120,000.