THE late Karpal Singh has been acquitted of a sedition charge for an offence allegedly committed 10 years ago against the sovereignty of the Perak ruler.

The Federal Court’s seven-member panel, chaired by Chief Judge of Malaya Zaharah Ibrahim, today said the high court and Court of Appeal had been wrong in failing to consider Karpal’s defence to the sedition charge over his remarks concerning the sultan of Perak’s actions in the Perak constitutional crisis in 2009.

The bench unanimously ruled that there had been “serious misdirection” by the lower courts in convicting the DAP stalwart of the offence. 

Zaharah said the previous rulings occasioned a “substantial miscarriage of justice which is not curable under proviso to Subsection 92(1) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964”.

Karpal died in a road accident on April 17, 2014.

He had been charged with sedition for saying the removal of Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as then-menteri besar by the late Perak sultan, Sultan Azlan Shah, and the appointment of Zambry Abdul Kadir in his place, could be questioned in court.

On February 21, 2014, the high court found Karpal guilty. On May 30, 2016, his conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal.

The panel included Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak David Wong, and justices Ramly Ali, Alizatul Khir Osman Khairuddin, Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, Idrus Harun, and Nallini Pathmanathan.

“We are very happy. We believe justice has been served,” Karpal’s son and DAP lawmaker Ramkarpal Singh told reporters after the decision.

Present was Karpal’s daughter Sangeet Kaur Deo, and his wife Gurmit Kaur Singh. 

An emotional Gurmit told reporters that it would have been Karpal’s fifth anniversary on April 17.

“He’s gone for five years. His name cleared, after five years,” she said while tearing up. 

“I’m just preparing for his fifth anniversary and I know he’s now going to rest in peace. Justice has been seen. I’m very happy. And I thank the team – my children, especially, for having cleared his name – and the courts. Thank you very much.”

Karpal had been convicted and fined RM4,000 in early 2014 for his remarks on Nizar’s removal from office.

In May 2016, the Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 majority ruling, upheld Karpal’s conviction but allowed his appeal to reduce the fine from RM4,000 to RM1,800.

Karpal died in an accident along the North-South Expressway near Gua Tempurung on April 17, 2014.

Sangeet told reporters that the main reason to proceed with the appeal was to clear her father’s name.

Sangeet and her brother, Ramkarpal Singh, appeared for their mother, with deputy public prosecutors Nik Suhaimi Nik Sulaiman and Faizah Mohd Salleh for the prosecution. – March 29, 2019.