The Court of Appeal today ruled that the home minister’s power to ban films in the public interest is constitutional, dismissing a challenge against the ban on the controversial film Mentega Terbang.

In a unanimous decision, a three-member bench comprising judges Ismail Brahim, Ong Chee Kwan, and Ahmad Shahrir Salleh dismissed an appeal by director Khairi Anwar Jailani and producer Tan Meng Kheng, upholding the High Court’s earlier ruling.

Counsel N Surendran, representing Khairi and Tan, said his clients had instructed him to...