KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 ― The Kuala Lumpur High Court has fixed August 28 to hear Mohd Ezra Mohd Zaid's legal challenge against the Selangor Islamic Religious Department's (Jais) arrest and prosecution of him over a book, his lawyer confirmed.

Farhan Haziq Mohamed, one of Ezra's lawyers, confirmed that Jais hads today informed the High Court that it would not be appealing against a Court of Appeal order for the lawsuit to proceed.

“They want to proceed. So the hearing is on August 28,” he told Malay Mail Online when contacted today.

Today was the case management of Ezra and his publishing firm ZI Publications Sdn Bhd's legal challenge before High Court judge Datuk Kamaludin Said. Jais was scheduled to inform the judge today on whether it would be appealing to the Federal Court over a court order last month.

On April 26, a three-man panel at the Court of Appeal unanimously ruled that Ezra's case should be sent back to the High Court for a hearing on its merits before a new judge, saying that the High Court had erred in allowing Jais' preliminary objection to Ezra's lawsuit.

The High Court had previously granted leave to hear the lawsuit, but had last September 6 dismissed it without hearing the case following a preliminary objection by the Selangor religious authority.

On July 9, 2012, ZI Publications and Ezra had filed for judicial review against six parties ― Jais, Jais' director-general, Jais chief enforcement officer, Selangor's chief Syarie prosecutor, the Selangor government and the Malaysian government.

ZI Publications and Ezra are seeking for a number of court orders, including the quashing of Jais' raid and seizure on May 29, 2012 of 180 copies of the BM edition of Canadian writer Irshad Manji's book Allah, Liberty and Love and an order for the return of the books seized.

On March 7, 2013, Ezra was charged as ZI Publications' director and majority shareholder under Section 16(1)(a) with two alternative counts of publishing and distributing the Allah, Kebebasan dan Cinta book, as well as a third alternative count under Section 16(1)(b) for possession of 180 copies of the book.

Conviction under any of these charges would result in a maximum RM3,000 fine or maximum two-year jail or both. Ezra's trial at the Shariah court has yet to start and a decision on his preliminary objection against the Shariah case is expected to be delivered on June 8.