The Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal by Badrul Hisham Shaharin, better known as Chegubard, to set aside gag orders barring him from making public comments about his ongoing criminal defamation and sedition cases.
A three-member panel comprising Justices Zaidi Ibrahim, Noorin Badaruddin, and Fairuz Zainol Abidin overturned the gag orders previously imposed by the Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru High Courts.
In delivering the panel’s decision, Zaidi said the Bersatu man’s appeal had merit and that the prosecution had failed to prove any substantial risk to the fairness of the trial.
He also said the appellate court was bound by its previous decision in a similar appeal by Wan Azri Wan Deris, also known as Papagomo, as both cases involved similar facts.
“It must be stated that the submissions made by the appellant in this case are the same as those raised by Papagomo in his.
“In Papagomo’s case, the court found that the conditions required to impose a gag order were not met. Since the facts in both cases are the same, the Court of Appeal is bound by the decision made in that appeal,” he said.
In January, the Court of Appeal lifted the gag order against Wan Azri, ruling that the prosecution had failed to present any material demonstrating a real and substantial risk to the fairness of the trial.
Wan Azri claimed trial in the sessions court in May 2024 to a charge of publishing seditious content against Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim on his X account.
Badrul meanwhile was charged with criminal defamation in the sessions court on April 29 last year. He was accused of publishing a statement which he had reason to believe would damage the Agong’s reputation.
The court granted him bail of RM10,000 with one surety and dismissed the prosecution’s application for a gag order.
On April 30, he was charged again in the Johor Bahru sessions court with allegedly publishing seditious material related to a casino project in Forest City on April 26. The court similarly dismissed the prosecution’s gag order application.
The prosecution then sought revisions of both decisions at the High Courts.
On May 14 and 20, respectively, the Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru High Courts allowed the revisions and imposed gag orders on Badrul, who appealed to the appellate court on May 23.
Badrul was represented by lawyer Rafique Rashid Ali while deputy public prosecutor Ng Siew Wee appeared for the prosecution.
