KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 ― High Court judge Datuk Hanipah Farikullah has recused herself from a cartoonist’s bid to challenge Putrajaya’s ban on him leaving the country, having previously decided on two judicial review bids of a similar nature.
Cartoonist Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque, popular known as Zunar, said in a statement today that the judge agreed to an application from his lawyers to withdraw from the latest case.
Hanipah last year dismissed two separate judicial review bids by DAP’s Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua and activist Hishamuddin Rais, both of whom had attempted to challenge the Immigration Department’s restriction of not allowing them to travel overseas.
“Lawyers Latifah Koya, Eric Paulsen and Melissa Sasidaran submitted the application on my behalf on the ground that Hanifah had decided in two previous cases of Tony Pua's and Hishamuddin Rais' involving similar issues and laws,” Zunar said.
There was no objection from the Attorney General’s Chambers on the matter, and the court would set a new date to continue to hear the judicial review bid.
Zunar filed a judicial review application on December 7 last year at the High Court challenging the Immigration Department’s restrictions. He named the department’s Director General, the Home Minister and the government as respondents.
Zunar discovered that he was barred from travelling overseas on October 17 last year, when he attempted to fly to Singapore to attend a forum.
“Last week, I was unable to travel to Switzerland for the launch of my exhibition in Morges due to the travel ban,” he said.
“The order seeks to review that the travel ban violates the Article 5 (1), Article 8 and/or Article 9 of the Federal Constitution, therefore to declare that the ban is null, void and unconstitutional,” he added.
Zunar’s application also seeks a order from the court to instruct the respondents to allow him to travel overseas without restrictions.
Hanipah in her previous rulings had said that it is not a constitutional right to leave the country and travel overseas.
