Public figures who continue to comment on a flasher case now under appeal may find themselves cited for contempt of court, lawyer Karpal Singh ( photo ), who is representing the accused, threatened today.

"I hope all comments and opinions by ministers, including the prime minister and Rais Yatim, the attorney-general or for that matter anyone else will cease forthwith, failing which I will have no hesitation to cite those concerned for contempt of court," he said in a statement.

"When an appeal against a decision of a court has been filed, the matter becomes sub judice and no one has the right to publicly comment upon it," he insisted.

Karpal, who is also DAP deputy chairperson, was refuting de facto Law Minister Dr Rais Yatim's claim in today's Utusan Malaysia that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had a right to comment on the case.

Executive interference

Rather the opposite, Karpal pointed out that there is a tendency of comments from the prime minister, coming as they do from the head of government, to interfere with the course of justice.

He said Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail ( photo ), too, was wrong to have publicly stated yesterday, his personal opinion of the relevance of the sarong to the charge.

Abdul Gani himself had revealed in the same news report that the prosecution filed an appeal on Dec 26 against the acquittal of Gua Musang PAS supervisor Abdul Razak Abas who was accused of flashing his private parts to a Puteri Umno member at the Pendang and Anak Bukit by-elections in Kedah last July.

Karpal said television stations also erred when in the course of the proceedings they aired comments relating to the case, prompting a gag order by Magistrate Mohd Redzuan Abdullah.