KUALA LUMPUR: Sarawakian Christian Jill Ireland will get back her eight compact discs (CDs) today, seven years after they were seized because they contained the word “Allah”.

Her lawyer Annou Xavier said he received a letter from the Home Ministry (Control of Publications and Al-Quran Text Division) yesterday, informing him that his client could take possession of the CDs today during office hours.

Annou said the CDs would be collected from the ministry’s branch at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

“Either my client or her pastor will be going to collect them,” he said, referring to Sidang Injil Borneo pastor Alfred Tais.

On Aug 12, Annou issued a terse reminder to the ministry to respect a court order compelling it to return the CDs. The lawyer said he had written a letter to the Attorney-General’s Chambers in July a day before the expiry of the 30-day deadline to return the CDs but did not receive a reply.

On June 23 this year, a three-man Court of Appeal bench chaired by Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat ruled that the exhibits seized in 2008 be returned to Ireland as provisions in the Printing Presses and Publications Act were not followed.

The bench also ordered that a new High Court judge hear her application on whether she had the right to use the word “Allah “ in her religious practices.

Government officials seized the CDs from Ireland at the then Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Sepang. The Sarawakian said she  had brought the CDs into Malaysia for her personal use.

Last year, High Court judge Datuk Zaleha Yusof ordered the ministry to return the CDs to Ireland, who had brought them from Indonesia.

The government then appealed against that order and managed to obtain a stay to retain them on grounds of public interest.

In seeking a judicial review against the seizure, Ireland also asked for a declaration, saying that she had legitimate expectation to exercise the right to use “Allah” and to continue to own and import such materials. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in digitaledge Daily, on September 10, 2015.