THE Federal Court today allowed jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim leave to challenge the constitutionality of the National Security Council Act.

The government, represented by senior federal council Suzana Atan, did not object to the decision by justices Zulkifli Makinuddin, who is Court of Appeal president, Ahmad Maarop and Azhar Mohamad.

Anwar, represented by Gopal Sri Ram, is seeking a declaration that the NSC Act is unconstitutional as it was gazetted without royal assent, a constitutional requirement for all bills passed by Parliament.

He is also challenging the law, gazetted in 2016, on grounds that it does not comply with Article 19 of the constitution which governs preventive detention laws and gives power to Parliament to pass laws that suspend fundamental liberties.

Anwar previously failed in his bid to challenge the act at the high court in 2016 and at the Court of Appeal in November last year. 

The courts said the matter should have been taken straight to the Federal Court as it involved a challenge to the legislative competence of Parliament to make laws.

The NSC was passed by the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara in late 2015 under claims by opposition and civil society that it was “bulldozed” through despite concerns about its ambiguity and sweeping powers for the prime minister.

The act created the National Security Council, which has the power to declare a state of emergency in a “designated security area”, the definition of which critics said is arbitrary.

It also grants powers to the authorities to make arrests and conduct forced evacuations and to use force as they find necessary, and also exempts members of the council and those operating under it form legal liability and prosecution.

Putrajaya said the law is meant to tackle terrorism but critics fear that it can be abused for political reasons.

Anwar is currently serving a five-year jail sentence for sodomy but is due for an early release in June as part of an automatic remission on one-third of his sentence for good behaviour. – March 14, 2018.