The Chief Registrar of the Federal Court of Malaysia today denied that journalists were intentionally removed from covering the open court hearing of Datuk Nurulhidayah Ahmad Zahid and her spouse’s case for breaching the movement control order (MCO).
In a statement today, the Chief Registrar’s Office claimed that crowd control had to be done inside the courtroom to comply with the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) social distancing rule amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The statement said that the court was not aware of press presence to cover the case, and while crowd dispersal was done in keeping with the said rule, media members were unintentionally removed from the court.
“The court was also not aware of the presence of media members, to do coverage on that day. Therefore, there is no issue of media members being barred from doing their coverage.
“The court always ensures that access to justice is implemented for all parties, including the media.
“On that day, apart from the case involving the person charged there were other cases which have been scheduled and attended by prosecutors, police officers and the public, leading to the open court being crowded with no social distancing,” the statement read further.
Yesterday, journalists present at the court complex were barred from covering the proceedings for unspecified reasons.
Reporters had initially been allowed into the courtroom but were later escorted out to allow remand proceedings to take place. They were barred when they tried to re-enter later.
Nurulhidayah is the daughter of Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The move was criticised by media groups such as Gerakan Media Merdeka and National Union of Journalists.
In the same statement, the Chief Registrar’s Office also briefly acknowledged the public lament of a single mother who was imprisoned for eight days and fined RM1,000 for breaching the MCO, after comparing her penalty to the RM800 fine that Nurulhidayah and her husband received for a similar offence.
“With regards to the sentence imposed by the Magistrates’ Court on Mrs Lisa Christina a/p Balan, the High Court had exercised its power and reviewed it by replacing the jail sentence with a fine,” the statement read.
In a since-deleted Facebook post, the single mother said she was even sentenced initially to 30 days’ imprisonment, which was only reduced when she pleaded with the court.
The wildly differing sentences meted out to ordinary Malaysians and politicians for violating the MCO already drew public interest even before this particular case. – MMO
Related reports:
May 5, Media Group Questions Why Reporters Barred from Covering Zahid’s Daughter’s Hearing