High Court rejects Ibra's case claiming the Supreme Court has been "locked"

The High Court today rejected former MP Ibrahim Ismail (Ibra)'s petition to the court seeking to make the Supreme Court functional following the suspension of three Supreme Court justices, which he describes was an act of "locking down" the court.

The High Court Registrar decided against accepting the constitutional petition filed by Ibrahim in which he alleges suspension of the three Supreme Court justices had paralysed one of the three state powers, citing that he had failed to identify the specific act that violated the constitution.

Ibrahim, who chaired the drafting committee which drafted the current constitution, filed the case after the Supreme Court suspended three justices just shortly after they began hearing a petition seeking to quash the anti-defection amendment brought to the constitution.

The three justices are Dr. Azmiralda Zahir, Mahaz Ali Zahir and Husnu Suood, of which Suood later resigned, accusing the government of interfering with the judiciary.

Their suspensions came just about 15 minutes before the Supreme Court scheduled a hearing on the motion to quash the constitutional amendment - a case that the Attorney General's Office argued could not be heard at the Supreme Court.

Around the same time, the Parliament passed an amendment to reduce the number of Supreme Court justices from seven to five despite concerns from those in the legal field.