The High Court in Kuala Lumpur today fixed Sept 25 to hear the merits of political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ul Haque's judicial review challenge to an overseas travel ban that has been imposed on him since last year.

The date was fixed by Justice Azizah Nawawi in her chambers following case management today.

Melissa Sasidaran, the lawyer for Zulkiflee Anwar, who is better known as Zunar, told this to Malaysiakini when contacted today.

It was reported last April 14 that Zunar was granted leave to mount a challenge against the Immigration Department's travel ban.

In judicial review proceedings, leave or permission from the court must first be sought before the full merits are heard. This is to ensure that the application is not frivolous or vexatious.

The political cartoonist was barred from travelling overseas when he was prohibited from boarding a flight to Singapore last Oct 17 to attend a forum at the National University of Singapore.

Following that, Zunar filed the legal challenge last December where he named director-general of Immigration, the home minister and the Malaysian government as respondents in the application.

Travel bans have also been imposed on Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua and Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah, who both legally contested the ban.

Pua and Maria were unsuccessful with their challenge. However, the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya is expected to deliver its decision on Pua's appeal this Wednesday.