KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — The Federal Court today rejected Putrajaya’s application to refer an appellate court decision that found key sections of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 (PAA) to be in violation of the Federal Constitution.

Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria, who led the five-judge panel hearing the case, said that the apex court had no jurisdiction to hear the application, according to news portal The Malaysian Insider today.

“However, we are sending the prosecution’s appeal against the acquittal (of R. Yuneswaran) to the Court of Appeal,” the news portal quoted Ariffin as saying.

Last April, the Court of Appeal ruled it unconstitutional to criminalise spontaneous public assemblies in breach of a 10-day notice required under Section 9(1) of the PAA, and also ordered that Section 9(5) — which imposes a maximum RM10,000 fine for non-compliance — be struck out for running counter to the Federal Constitution.

Johor PKR executive secretary R. Yuneswaran, was acquitted of a charge under Section 9(1) of the PAA by a lower court last August 24, but the prosecution later appealed this.

Lawyer and PKR’s Subang MP R. Sivarasa said that the attempt by the Attorney-General’s Chambers to examine the constitutionality of Section 9 (5) of the PAA was an attempt to circumvent the correct procedure to do so.

“Today’s Federal Court decision in Yuneswaran’s case dismissed the AG’s chambers attempt to revisit the issue of the constitutionality of Section 9(5) of the PAA by a short cut process direct to the Federal Court.

“We argued the procedure adopted by the prosecution was incorrect. The court agreed,” he said in a WhatsApp message to the Malay Mail Online.

He added that matter is still pending at the Court of Appeal and until then, the ruling on Nik Nazmi’s case that deemed it unconstitutional to criminalise spontaneous public assemblies in breach of the 10-day notice required under the PAA remains applicable.

He added that the #KitaLawan rallies are set to continue as scheduled as the gatherings were consistent with Malaysians’ constitutional rights.

“As far as #KitaLawan rallies are concerned, they will proceed as our right to assemble peacefully is protected under the Federal Constitution,” he said.

On March 7, thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Kuala Lumpur in support of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was handed a five-year jail sentence last month for allegedly sodomising his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, in 2008.

Police previously issued a warning that the rallies, headlined as #KitaLawan, were unlawful as organisers allegedly failed to follow the conditions laid out in the PAA.