KUALA LUMPUR (June 6): The prosecution told the Terengganu High Court that it should strike out Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown’s appeal to quash her conviction and two-year prison sentence for defaming Sultanah Nur Zahirah, the Sultanah of Terengganu.

Deputy public prosecutor Engku Ahmad Rashidi Abdillah told the court during case management on Thursday that the appeal should be quashed, as Rewcastle-Brown was not in the country despite the court issuing an order for her to be present.

However, judge Datuk Hassan Abdul Ghani told the prosecutor to address this issue when the court receives the record of appeal from the Magistrate’s Court.

The record of appeal would include the notes of evidence and exhibits that were tendered in the Magistrate’s Court that convicted and sentenced Rewcastle-Brown.

Lawyer Guok Ngek Seong, appearing for Rewcastle-Brown, told the court that he had filed written submissions about Rewcastle-Brown’s non-appearance in the country together with the petition of appeal.

The judge then set July 21 for the next case management, pending the record of appeal.

In the petition of appeal filed by Guok earlier this week, he said that Magistrate Nik Mohd Tarmizie Nik Mohd Shukri, who found Rewcastle-Brown guilty of defamation and ordered her prison sentence, had breached provisions in the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).

Guok said that the magistrate had committed errors in arriving at the decision. The lawyer also claims that “a miscarriage of justice” has occurred in this case.

The act of the Magistrate’s Court in proceeding with a trial in absentia by invoking Section 425A of the CPC was in total violation of the basic and cardinal rule of criminal justice, said Guok, adding that Section 425A requires an accused to be brought and charged first. If the accused absconds, then only is the Section applicable.

Guok also said that the authorities had not taken any effort to extradite Rewcastle-Brown, who is currently residing in the UK, to be brought for the charge to be read to her in court.

Previously, the journalist's counsels had sent two letters of representation to the Attorney General’s Chambers seeking to drop the charge. However, both were 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 that she was 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 had disparaged 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 in December last year. A three-member panel found that the impugned statement was indeed defamatory, and awarded damages of RM300,000 and cost of RM120,000 to the Sultanah.