THE High Court today issued a warrant of arrest against Batu MP Tian Chua for failing to attend the case management of his appeal for his conviction under the Sedition Act.

High Court judge Mohd Sofian Abd Razak issued the warrant.

Tian Chua, who is also PKR vice-president, said he would explain his absence in court tomorrow.

“Today is only for case management. Usually I don’t need to attend. This is a small matter, I will go to court tomorrow,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Meanwhile his lawyer, Latheefa Koya, said in a statement that Tian Chua was not aware that he had to attend case management today.

“The matter today was fixed for case management. Tian Chua did not appear as his appearance had been dispensed with for case managements prior to this.

“In fact, he was not aware of the case management today, which had been informed to us as his solicitors only,” said Latheefa adding that they will attend court tomorrow to explain the situation as well as apply for the cancellation of the warrant of arrest.

On September 28 last year, Tian Chua was found guilty of making seditious remarks during a forum at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall on May 13 2013.

He was charged under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act and sentenced to three months’ jail and fined RM1,800.

The government has filed an appeal to enhance the sentence. Latheefa then said her client had also filed an appeal to quash the sentence and conviction.

Last September, Tian Chua served a month in Kajang Prison for the separate offence of refusing to obey a police order during the Bersih 3.0 rally in 2012. – December 19, 2017.