Judicial review of judge’s decision to deny Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee bail to be heard this Thursday

Judicial review of judge’s decision to deny Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee bail to be heard this Thursday
23 Jul 2013 01:46am

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today set this Thursday to hear the application for leave for judicial review filed by controversial couple Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee over the Sessions Court judge’s decision to deny them bail.

The duo’s lawyer, Chong Joo Tian, told reporters that the application was filed on July 19 and would be heard by High Court Judge Mohd Azman Husin.

They were charged with three counts of mocking Muslims and the holy month of Ramadan and posting pornographic pictures on their blog.

The claimed that Judge Murtazadi Amran had erred in law by denying them bail as they had no prior criminal record.

Tan, 24, and Lee, 25, further claimed that there were no grounds for the prosecution’s submission that they had a tendency to commit the same offence if released on bail.

The couple submitted that all their electronic equipment and computers had been seized by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and if there was a risk of repeating the offence the court could have set conditions for the bail.

Tan and Lee also said they did not pose a flight risk as their families lived in Malaysia and even if there was their passports could have been impounded.

On July 18, Judge Murtazadi denied Alvin Tan (Tan Jye Yee) and Vivian Lee (Lee May Ling) bail, pending their trial on the grounds that the case was a matter of public interest.

Tan is being detained at the Sungai Buloh Prison while Lee is in the Kajang Prison.

They were jointly accused of making a seditious posting on ‘Alvin and Vivian – Alvivi’ Facebook site (https://www.facebook.com/alvivi.swingers) with a photo of themselves eating ‘bak kut teh’ (a pork dish) with the greeting ‘Selamat Berbuka Puasa (Happy Breaking Fast) with bak kut teh, fragrant, delicious and appetising’, with a halal logo as well.
On the second charge, Tan and Lee were accused of posting pornographic pictures on http://alviviswingers.tumblr.com/ at the same place between 9pm and 2am from July 6 and 7.

The duo were also charged with posting on their own Facebookpages the same picture (bak kut teh picture) and comments which were likely to cause religious enmity between people of different faiths.

Deputy public prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin, who led the prosecution, had applied for both the accused to be denied bail as the charges they faced were under Section 298A (1) (a) of the Penal Code and Film Censorship Act, which were non-bailable offences.

- Bernama



- wong chee tat :)