The Federal Court will hear the appeal by the Home Ministry and government on the decisions of the High Court and Court of Appeal to lift the ban on the Bahasa Malaysia translation of the book by Irshad Manji titled 'Allah, Liberty and Love'.

A three-member bench led by Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria allowed one of three questions posed before the apex court for decision.

The question is whether the quashing of the ban on publication of the Bahasa Malaysia version of the book titled ‘Allah, Kebebasan dan Cinta’, under Section 7 of the Publication and Printing Presses Act 1984, still stands when the prohibition on the English version is still valid in law.

Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, for the deputy home minister, home minister and government, told the bench that the leave application should be allowed as the ban is still valid for the English version.

However, K Shanmuga, the lawyer representing ZI Publications Sdn Bhd, told the court that this issue did not arise in the High Court or Court of Appeal.

Shanmuga also pointed out that the point raised was also not stated in the memorandum of appeal to the Court of Appeal.

However, Shamsul showed that the memorandum of appeal was drafted generally and included the issues raised.

Following this, Justice Arifin allowed leave following an amendment to the memorandum.

The other judges on the panel were Federal Court judges Hasan Lah and Zaharah Ibrahim.

Book ban lifted

ZI Publications director Ezra Zaid filed the judicial review on May 29, 2012, after the book was banned by the Home Ministry for being detrimental to public order.

However, High Court judge Zaleha Yusof quashed the Home Ministry's decision last year on the grounds that the English version of the book had been on the shelves for over a year compared to the translated version, and had not caused public unrest.

She asked if it was true the book was prejudicial to public order, then why was no action taken to ban the English version when it was first circulated.

"Why was the prohibition made only when it was translated into the national language?

"As I understand it, the root of the respondents' concern is that it would result in religious confusion as the authority decided to ban the book only when it was translated into Bahasa Malaysia.

"Does this mean that only the Malay-speaking readers will be confused while English readers will not?” Justice Zaleha said in her ruling.

The Court of Appeal also upheld the decision late last year, resulting in today’s appeal.