KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 — Left dry after her long-awaited court victory last month, Bumiputera Christian Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill has demanded the Home Ministry to return her compact discs (CDs) containing the word “Allah”.

The Sarawakian’s lawyer Annou Xavier, confirmed that two letter of demands were recently sent to the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), which represents the Home Ministry.

“We want them to return the CDs and they have not complied with the High Court order,” he told the Malay Mail Online when contacted today.

Annou was referring to the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s July 21 decision, where the judge ordered the Home Ministry to return the eight CDs to Jill Ireland and pay RM5,000 in costs.

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In the letters of demand sighted by Malay Mail Online, Jill Ireland’s law firm asked the AGC to advise the Home Ministry and the government to return the CDs within seven days from the date of receipt, as well as to pay the RM5,000 in legal costs.

According to Annou, the AGC has not replied to the two letters dated August 13 and August 21, but said the government lawyers had filed an application to stay the High Court order in favour of Jill Ireland.

Annou’s office confirmed receiving the unsealed copy of the AGC’s stay application on August 26.

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Instead of returning the CDs and paying the legal costs, the Home Ministry had on July 22 appealed against the ruling.

On August 18, Annou also filed an appeal on behalf of Jill Ireland, saying today that this was because the High Court “didn’t address the other constitutional issues” raised by his client.

Malay Mail Online understands that both appeals will be heard at the Court of Appeal separately, with the AGC’s appeal set for case management on September 18.

No date has been fixed for the case management of Jill Ireland’s appeal.

The Christian CDs which Jill Ireland had bought for her own use were seized from her six years ago.

On May 11, 2008, the Home Ministry confiscated eight CDs bearing the word “Allah” from Jill Ireland at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal airport in Sepang, prompting her to challenge its decisions in court.

In August the same year, she filed for judicial review of the Home Ministry’s actions and a return of the CDs.

Although High Court judge Datuk Zaleha Yusof ruled on July 21 that the Home Ministry was wrong to detain the CDs based on a point of law, she did not address nine other points raised in Jill’s application for judicial review.

Jill had sought declarations that it is her constitutional right to import publications in the practice of Christianity and that she is entitled to use the word “Allah”, among other matters.

Christians make up close to 10 per cent or 2.6 million of the Malaysian population of 30 million.

Almost two-thirds of them are Bumiputera and live in Sabah and Sarawak, where they routinely use Bahasa Malaysia and indigenous languages in their religious practices, including describing God as “Allah” in their prayers and holy book.