The High Court in Kuala Lumpur today granted leave for judicial review on the ban of cartoonist Zunar’s book “Sapuman: Man of Steal.”

“Today, there was no objection from the Attorney-General’s Chambers, and therefore the court granted leave for Zunar to proceed with the challenge against the prohibition of Sapuman,” the cartoonist's lawyer N Surendran said outside the courtroom.

Zunar, whose real name is Zulkiflee SM Anwarul Haque, filed this judicial review challenge on Jan 2 this year.

The home minister and the government were named as respondents in his application.

Aside from setting aside the prohibition, Zunar is also seeking for the ban to be declared void and illegal, on grounds that it is ultra vires of Section 7 of the Publication and Printing Presses Act 1984, and that it violates Articles 5 (personal liberty), 8 (equality) and 10 (1)(a) (freedom of expression) of the Federal Constitution.

“The grounds of our leave application are that the decision to prohibit or ban the cartoon book are unreasonable and unconstitutional.

“Those are the grounds we have advanced in our application, which we will pursue during the substantive stage, which is the full-blown hearing,” Surendran said.

Judge Azizah Nawawi has fixed Feb 27 for case management.

The ban on Sapuman came into effect last October.